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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25225078">Children of R'lyeh, Act II: Days Gone Darker</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vosh/pseuds/Vosh'>Vosh</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Cthulhu Mythos - Fandom, Cthulhu Mythos - H. P. Lovecraft, Furry (Fandom), cyberpunk - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 02:07:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>43,328</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25225078</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vosh/pseuds/Vosh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue: Briefing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l14PydalSg">Whiskers</a>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em><b>Prologue: </b> </em>
</p><p><span class="u">Subject(s)</span>: Ngirrth'luin; Fraternal Twins; Foreign species</p><p><span class="u">Aliases</span>: 'Vosh', 'Ventus'</p><p><span class="u">Crime(s)</span>: Illegal occupation in Novus City, Disruption of peace in Lower Levels 11-15, Alleged assault on former Enforcer, Symbols of Conspiracy, 'Infestation' of filtered air units with strange 'presence' or 'aura'</p><p><span class="u">Crime(s) specifically related to 'Vosh'</span>: Public Disruptions via prototypical transportation, Unlicensed/Unsanctioned Engineer/Mechanic work (abnormally profitable), [n<em>ot dating me...]</em></p><p><span class="u">Crime(s) specifically related to 'Ventus'</span>: Illegal Mercenary work, Unregistered/Unlicensed weaponry (Most, if not all, considered stolen or illegally imported), In- tandem work with unknown/unidentified network slicer, [<em>being a cockblock to anyone who tries to size up his sister...]</em></p><p><span class="u">Additional Information</span>: To be rendered harmless on sight by any Upper Level Enforcement willing to patrol the Lower Levels. No Open-Fire policy, any other means acceptable. Capture is most optimal route. Twins are considered dangerous until brought to harmless state. They are known to go on the Offensive if put on the Defensive for too long. Lives claimed so far due to inefficient methods have totaled to 0, however multiple cases of assault and loss of memory from 'skull bashings'. Almost always travel together, rarely seen alone unless at 'Underground Performances'. Both are known to be performers at these festivals and usually cause for splitting, however it is a 'public' event to those who find/know about it. Large crowds ruin opportunities. Recommended approaches involve luring or catching off guard during times where the twins are forced to split. <em>NEW INTEL</em>: Traces of smaller, very similar looking 'child' to 'Vosh'. Believed to be around the age of 7-9, much too old to be subject's child. Recommend 'kidnapping' said 'child' as a lure. [<em>Or just kidnap her instead, please...</em>]</p><p>The sounds of rather slick digits would continue to tap away at a holo-keyboard as information about a certain couple of peculiar Canids continued to stream down a projection from the large device in the center of a rather dark and damp room. It was actually quite strange for a room to be this damp, but the occupant obviously preferred it. In fact, it became quite obvious why she did as large, vibrantly lit and detailed information about this foreign, illegal occupying species, laying out details about their anatomy, population, origins, and most importantly the whereabouts of her targets. She loathed that it was really going to come down to having to kill one of them, but at least she was given authority to at least keep the girl for herself. Or at least she was instructed, if she remembered correctly, to 'bring the female in for questioning, examination and possible replication'. But in all honesty, she'd rather just keep the original for herself. After all, she'd taken a liking to 'Vosh' because of her uniqueness, something that her fellow 'Agents' were trying too hard to obtain in all the wrong ways. Maybe it'd be best for her to move down to Level 13 with that little cell of rebellious citizens and live out her days there in happiness with her little Voshy. Her expression became day dreamy at the thought, a toothy grin growing as she finally streamed through the information to a recent image of Vosh and her little crew. They'd finally decided to visit the surface of that old city. She remembered going once to investigate a sudden surge of activity. Unfortunately it was a false alarm and all she got out of it was the opportunity to smash a corpse's head with her new boots. And it wasn't even a good corpse, either. Mummified and whatnot. Her grin began to fade, turning to a frown of both disappointment and boredom, especially when she heard the sounds of a certain male partner of hers accessing the room she was in. The idle sounds of the holo-projections humming filled the room until the beeping confirmation of the entrance being opened securely echoed, him standing in the door way with his usual smug look, “You know, you have a real bad habit of ruining my fun and happiness, Hunter. I wonder what your Creator, no I'm sorry, 'Father' would think of you now, acting like you're some big shot wolf barging in on a shark's personal business. Lucky for you I was just fin--”</p><p>“Shut up for once in your damn life. I know what you were doing in here, and I honestly couldn't give a shit. You can fantasize about that Fuzzball all you want, but when it comes down to it, they don't belong here and we're either going to have to do what we're ordered to do, find a way to cover your little shenanigans up with the chick or risk being decommissioned,” the athletic bodied, reasonably sized Wolf would state as he continued to stare at the Shark with quite the unamused expression, “Save a copy for yourself if you'd like, but those archives aren't supposed to be modified in any way. So when you're done, change it back. Don't want the Judges on me more than they already are. Especially since our last little operation had to be cut short because <em>you</em> decided that <em>we</em> were better off splitting up. You know where that got us? Stuck. Between helping <em>you</em> out of a trap and following <em>her</em> down to the surface. We could've had them all in one fell swoop, you dense bitch.”</p><p>The shark girl would grit her sharp teeth for a moment while she listened to her partner talk, every second and word making her want to stand up and kick him in his chest out of the room, “Fine, I fucked up, alright? But don't try to make me feel guilty when it was <em>you</em> who thought it'd be an even better idea to barge in on a music festival you THOUGHT they were performing at. You were following whispers in the damn air ducts. I could've spent that night doing recon on her and her brother, but no. You dragged me into a false situation that literally got you shot at least once and me beat. Speaking of which, I never thought I'd end up in a mosh pit in my life.”</p><p>“That wasn't a mosh pit. That was us getting our tails handed to us on a titanium platter by a bunch of oddly-genetic'd, hybrid idiots on Level 11. Even for the highest level down in that dump, those people still don't know how to think straight. Now c'mon Sophie, we got a pair of Ngirtth'luin, foreign trash to start scouting and planning to catch...or kill. I'd prefer them dead so they can't struggle when we bring their bodies back to the Librarians.” The Wolf then left the entrance as abruptly and noisily as he'd entered, grumbling and snarling as he walked down the dimly lit hallway. Sophie reluctantly followed suit after she'd finished the saving of an alternate copy of what she'd just done, reverting the main file back to its original state before shutting down the entire machine, leaving the room to slowly darken, “And to think this was all inadvertently designed by that stupid Fen-Chi hybrid trash...oh, right. Gotta go snap some shots of Vosh...and her brother, too. I guess...”</p><p>She finally left the room, the door closing behind her and buzzing rather loudly until a confirming beep indicated the room was secure, but not necessarily the machine. What she thought she'd shut down had already been sliced into remotely and recovered from doing so, allowing a certain someone to begin browsing what she'd just gone through. The image of an inverted delta with a rather cocky looking expression designed onto it flickered into view, a filtered, static-filled voice emitting from the projection, “And that's how Oxye works, folks. Ngirrth'luin? No such thing. Just a glitch in the system, eheh...”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Sweet Nightmares</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5WsjOOjYww">Killing the Light</a>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em><b>Chapter 1: Sweet Nightmares</b> </em>
</p><p>Late nights usually entailed the usual routine of showering, dressing in more comfortable night attire and then laying down to rest. Strangely enough, that wasn't the case for a certain punk engineer. From her room could be heard the subtle sounds of a stylus scribbling against a holo-pad she'd gotten as a gift from Oxye, much like a journal that would last much longer than a paper one. Every so often could be heard subtle grumbles of frustration followed by the sounds of everything previously written being deleted. Another curious sound could also be heard from the Ngirrth'luin girl's room, and they were close to those of a younger one sleeping and lightly snoring. From the hallway, it was clear that they were being checked on every so often as the door to Vosh's room was kept open ever so slightly so that her brother could keep an eye on his two sisters.</p><p>Things were rather quiet for the night, however. Usually the sounds of anything like Vosh's holo-journal would be easily drowned out by the endless traffic of hover transport, pedestrians and the occasional street shooting, though it was usually muffled due to the size of the warehouse. But the night was as it was, and this kept Ventus on edge. He hardly slept as it was, usually only resorting to power napping or even meditating, but clearly he'd gotten neither of those this day as he felt his head nod forward then buck back into the wall behind him. He'd open his mouth a bit as if to let out a grunt of slight annoyance from the thump, but instead it'd merely be a long yawn, causing him to decide on finally going back to his room and calling it a night.</p><p>However, Vosh hadn't called it quits. She was intent on writing what she was, saving and editing as often as she could to be sure she wouldn't lose it all to something clumsy she'd probably end up doing. Plus, she was kind've content with how she was positioned on her stomach, her head laying down on her left arm as she wrote and doodled with her right and Ashir curled up on her lower back into a warm, soft ball of fuzz. She couldn't believe it'd already been more than a year that she'd found her little clone, and now that she'd gotten used to how Ashir behaved and reacted, she wouldn't have had it any other way, though she did wish that Ashir would wear something less...traditional. She'd gotten her little sister to wear little capris and a cute, gray t-shirt that had the same phrases stitched into the hems of the sleeves, something she'd slaved over for almost a week at that, but yet she'd find her mini-me always wearing her robe over it all. She thought about pulling out her old robe to maybe walk around town with her sister, but the thought of drawing attention by trying not to draw attention from both of them wearing their robes bothered her, especially with how strict enforcement had become the last few months.</p><p>She just shook her head, going back to writing in her journal, '<em>It's not that I'm afraid...I'm just weary, y'know? There's been a lot of pressure. More people are taking to using transportation on the Lower Levels to avoid walking on the streets and risk being profiled or interrogated. It's why I've had to stay here in the warehouse with mini-me. Plus I'm sure she'd draw a lot more attention than me with her albino traits, which I'm kind've jealous of, not gonna lie. She's got a way softer coat as well. Maybe that's just because she's still a pup. I can't exactly remember if mine was ever this soft, and if it was, it was probably ruined from all that time spent down in R'lyeh. Weird seasons all causing the already high humidity levels to shift in weird ways, then coming here and trying to get used to the filtered air. Honestly, it can get pretty hard to breathe, especially the higher up we go. Like I remember when Molly and I decided to head up to Level 10 to pick up a part...well, steal would probably make more sense, but that's beside the point. Things felt really weird there. Maybe anyone who's lucky enough to live there gets used to it, or the air is filtered differently to accommodate the peeps who live there, but I honestly felt like crap. Air was abnormally dry, which, now that I think of it, might've been linked to the sudden 'shut down for maintenance' routine that was pulled when we'd already been there for a good hour. That was honestly the first I'd ever heard of or experienced,' </em>her writing continued, though she'd pause as she felt Ashir move around off of her back and crawl in her sleep closer to Vosh's stomach as she attempted to nuzzle and struggle her way into a position that Vosh eventually changed to, Ashir now curled up into a slightly curled up Vosh's abdominal region, '<em>But I honestly don't think it was anything too big, just made it kinda hard for me to focus on the way back down. Luckily maintenance tunnels and sewage lines are usually really humid and large enough to let me ride my board through, which is finally complete. Gotta admit, was expecting it to be done a lot later from how Oxye kept trying to delay. Luckily he's the kinda guy to not stop once he actually starts until he finishes.'</em></p><p>She'd finally powered down the holo-journal, sliding the stylus into the slot on the bottom and placing the device behind her on her bed. She adjusted herself a bit to make it a bit more comfortable to sleep in her current position, plus she didn't want to move too much or else she'd wake up an albino pup who would more than likely attempt to bite her from annoyance. Now that she thought of it, her sister was probably as heavy of a sleeper as she was. Before she finally started to doze off, the Ngirrth'luin punk girl leaned over a bit to her sister, giving a light nibble on the pup's ear before planting a gentle kiss on her forehead, a traditional goodnight kiss her Caretaker had done to her when she was still a pup. It caused Ashir to squirm ever so slightly due to how sensitive her ears still were, but it quickly ceased as she moved herself closer into Vosh's stomach area, “Goodnight sis. I wonder what you dream, but so long as it isn't nightmares like me when I was your age, I think I can imagine how happy you are when you sleep...”</p><p>In truth, Vosh was far from right when it came to the ashborn pup's dreamscapes being anything but nightmares. However, Ashir had learned to come to terms with the nightmares she dealt with nightly, though she did her best to avoid falling asleep to keep away from the thoughts that roamed her resting mind for as long as she could. But with her small, still growing body, it wasn't really possible to do so realistically. She squirmed a bit more near Vosh's gut, trying to move in as close as she could before she finally couldn't resist the urge to wrap her small arms around Vosh's waist as best she could. Unfortunately, Vosh was already out cold, her heavy sleeping tendencies kicking in rather fast, her body nothing more than warm, dead weight for Ashir to rest against. The ashborn then shivered a bit, though from something else rather than a strange draft she felt roll in and seemingly push open the door, causing it to squeak a bit.</p><p>* * *</p><p>Her robes were dirty and wet. She had no idea where she was again. All she could remember was that weird thing that'd scared her and caused her to fall into a deep puddle that seemed like it was trying to pull her down under. And the storm had picked up. But the rain wasn't warm. It was cold, and it made her fur stand up, making it even more uncomfortable. Instead of crying in fear, however, she'd merely sigh. It was happening again. She looked around her, taking notice of flashes of harmless lightning that struck in the foggy distance. This town...it was her old home.</p><p>But what was she going to do here? Every time she'd tried to run before, a puddle would form below her and pull her in until she heard the sounds of a voice she so missed, only for it to morph into growling and eventually the sounds of her own struggled breathing as she slowly drowned in the puddle before it spat her back out to this same spot. And every time she managed to outsmart the puddle, that thing...it scared her back into it. It was that dream again. She tucked her little feet and legs close to her chest as she sat upon the altar-shaped stone with little to no hope of ever figuring out how to beat this.</p><p>Here she could not speak proper 'Basic', as she was being taught by her older siblings and those other two fox-looking ones. She saw them as cousins, but nothing more. She knew she wasn't like them, so instead she merely called out 'Mother' in her native tongue, looking around with hopeless, tear filled eyes. She received no response back. She called out once more, this time asking for help. Still nothing. A light sniffle could be heard, however, and not from her. It was from another, familiar looking girl. She looked like her, but she wasn't pale, “...Vosh?” she asked as she uncurled herself to stand up to try and peer farther into the fog.</p><p>Her hopes were starting to be brought back up for a moment. It was her older sister, but she looked like she was struggling against something. Just as she was about to jump down from her perch, she stopped herself as a large puddle began to form around the base of the altar, the same one that kept her trapped here in the first place. She looked back over at her sister who continued to struggle against something, even taking her hood off to try and get a better look, her small, perky little ears pointing up in a rather concerned, alert manner. But that wouldn't last very long. From her movements, it was clear that Vosh was losing to whatever it was she couldn't see. She heard a snap. Vosh's leg looked like it'd been kicked in, causing her to fall to the ground in agony, crying out for help, more specifically her's.</p><p>She was helpless, though. The puddle was too big to jump over, and if she fell in, this would all just reset and she'd have to watch it all over again. She called out to her pained sister, “Vosh! Vosh!” She waved her oversized-sleeved arms at her sister, wanting her to see that she was there and was trying to figure out what she could do, but it was obvious it was nothing. She tried calling for her brother, Ventus. She got nothing, only the pained cries of her sister who laid there helplessly. She looked around frantically, wondering where her older brother was to help her and their sister. Those ears had finally dropped down to the sides of her head, and those tears had finally begun to stream down her soft cheeks.</p><p>“Ventus! Ventus!” she exclaimed, looking around hopelessly, trying to find out where he was. And before she could even properly react, she looked behind her over her shoulder to see what looked like Vosh, dressed in her old robes, striking her own twin brother down before thrusting her abnormally sharpened clawed hand into the chest of Ventus. Ashir was speechless, soundless even. Her tears continued, though there was no more crying. Just disbelief. Her older sister had killed their own brother behind her back. She couldn't speak. Couldn't make a sound. She merely just turned away as she tried to figure out how Vosh had gone from being helpless and in pain to doing such a thing. But something else threw the little one off. Vosh was still over at her old spot on the ground, now lifeless and seemingly cold, the figure of someone similar to the on who'd killed Ventus removing their clawed hand from the chest of her sister. What was going on?</p><p>Then it started to become clear to her as the fog around her began to settle. This wasn't her usual bad dream. This was something more. It was a living nightmare. The figures that donned what she thought were Vosh's robes slowly surrounded her on both sides, the rather large hood of the robes hiding the face of whoever or whatever it was, “...V-Vosh?” she'd ask in a rather timid and terrified tone, wondering if she'd even get a response. After a few moments of terrifying silence, the two figures seemingly multiplied into a circle that surrounded the pup, causing her to scramble around on the altar-stone in fear until she finally pulled her hood back over her head and face, not wanting to look anymore. But curiosity out of fear got the best of her, and before she knew it, all of the figures had all returned to a single, rather large one that towered above her.</p><p>“Ngirrth'luin and albino, yet you look just like the older one...” an unfamiliar voice would echo throughout the dream before an unknown being walked out from behind the rather large figure. It was a he. He was dark coated and looked like he meant harm.</p><p>“She's almost as cute. Maybe we should just keep her instead. Besides, I'd rather not blow the Librarians' research because we spent more time hunting down the real one instead of just supplying them with something more special, don't you think?” The second, feminine voice was also unfamiliar as it too echoed before an unknown feminine figure walked out from behind the large one. This one had no fur, and she carried a rather large, dangerous looking thing on her back.</p><p>Ashir was both terrified and confused now. Who were these people? She looked up at the large figure in front of her, catching a glimpse of their hands as another unnatural breeze passed through and lifted their sleeves, as well as a bit of their hood. She recognized what or who she was seeing, “...m-mommy?” Her voice had lightened ever so slightly, wondering if this was all a vision that meant her mother was finally coming to take her back and protect her. She couldn't have been more wrong. A gust rolled in and lifted the hood off of the figure she thought was her mother, only to reveal it was a monstrosity. A horrid, mutated mimic of her mother, with a multitude of eyes that lined all around her forehead, tendrils erupting from the sides of its jaw and shoulders as they went in for the ashborn, a high pitched, ear-drum shattering screech following. Then...nothing.</p><p>* * *</p><p>Morning had finally come. She'd slept rather well, or so she thought. Maybe she should've considered a better position to lay down with Ashir i- “...Ashir? Huh...maybe she's up and about already, though I swear she usually sleeps longer than I do,” Vosh groaned as she stretched and moved to dress into her usual attire. It was odd that she'd decided to wear her robes to bed, but it made Ashir feel much more comfortable knowing that her older sister wasn't afraid to still wear them with her. And it's not as if she disliked her robes that much, she just didn't like being reminded of her old home was all. What'd happened over a year ago with them finding Ashir was honestly pushing it for her. It's why she didn't want Oxye and her persistent brother going down there in the first place. But, as always, she was ignored, “...I think I'm gonna go tamper with one of the nerd's projects. See if I can't cause him to blow a gasket trying to figure out why his already working toy suddenly breaks. Hehehe...”</p><p>And with that, the mischievous Ngirrth'luin began to sneak out and about, trying not to make too much noise because she knew that pretty much everybody aside from her was a cranky old lady if and when they were woken up before their alarms, which usually didn't go off until about 2 in the afternoon. It was a bit ironic, however. Her alarm is set for 5. She liked her sleep, and late nights. But as of late, that trend began to slowly die with her care taking of her little sister. Speaking of which, she'd still not caught sight or sound of her mini-me yet, “...I mean, it's like 10 in the mornin'. I'd expect her to at least be watching TV or trying to get into Oxye's workshop. And if that was the case, then Ox would be up, too. Where the hell is she?” She'd question as she continued to search around the warehouse, even doing so much as to take the elevator down to her workshop to see if the pale ball of fluff had gotten into her work, which wouldn't be the case as she noticed it was exactly as she'd left it last night.</p><p>Upon her return back up to the living floor, she'd caught whiff of something in the air, and it wasn't the usual stink she'd drag from her workshop. Which was something she really needed to fix, but the humidity modifiers Oxye had installed for her down there just worked so well not to abuse. No, this was something or someone else's scent. More specifically, two others' scents. And they'd attempted to cover it up with girly perfumes and various other artificial masking, which all smelt terrible and caused Vosh to eventually plug her nose with two of her fingers, leaving her to breathe through her maw for a bit while she tried to find something else to mask the smell. That solution would be a new bag of potato chips. Glorious, deep fried potato chips crisped to an almost perfect gold.</p><p>Obviously Vosh's investigation skills were a bit rusty, if not non-existent. Her tools were nothing more than her nose, eyes, ears and knack for snacking to somewhat focus on what she was trying to unveil. Things were piecing together, though. Even with her poor detective work, something should have surfaced. She began to stroke her chin a bit, wondering where she should go from here, which ended up being her heading to her brother's room. He was a mercenary. He had to have some clue about investigating one's surroundings for...whatever he did. Shooting people or something like that. Either way, she needed his help, and as usual, she didn't bother knocking, just barged in faking a loud groan.</p><p>It wouldn't take long for Ventus to take notice, either. He was already getting ready to get up for the morning, something rather odd for him. More than 2 hours of sleep was a rare thing, and if it ever did happen, it caused him to wake up groggy and rather excessively rested. It didn't help his clutz of a sister had barged in either. He just sat there on his bed with a mildly unamused expression, wondering if she was going to accidentally break something as well. Luckily that was the case today and she just ended up collapsing into and onto his bed beside him. She'd begin to talk and say things, though he wouldn't exactly understand her as she was face down into his sheets, muffling her voice to nothing. With a sigh, he rolled her over, “What the hell do you want, Vosh? It's early. I overslept. And...where's Ashir? Didn't she sleep with you?”</p><p>“Yeah, look, I'll get to that! But I've been doing some investigating around the warehouse and workshops and-”</p><p>“And you sound like you're onto absolutely nothing here. Again.”</p><p>“Okay, okay, okay. Erhem...I'm not sure where she is. Maybe she's playing hide and seek or something. She could pull it off. She's tiny, after all. But listen, look, like I said, I've been doing some investigating,” she'd begin as she waved her bandage wrapped hands around in front of her, trying to make some kind of visual representation of what she was trying to explain, “And I thought I smelled other people. Like they'd recently been in here, or something. I dunno if you or Molly invited guests over overnight, but I smelled two new people's trails, and it seemed like they tried to cover it up. And on top of it all-”</p><p>“Ashir is missing...after you pick up on two unknown scent trails that have been attempted to be masked and hidden from us. And...you tried covering up the stench with potato chips again, didn't you?”</p><p>“Well it was the most logical thing to do, honestly. I hate the smell of those air freshening sprays and whatnot. Hurts to breathe them.”</p><p>“Or you could've just filtered the warehouse's air out. Whatever, but your terrible detective skills actually sort've add up. I think it'd be best if we wake up Oxye. He was up later than the both of us working on another journal log,” he'd explain as he fixed his shock collar and stood up, shoving Vosh out of his room as he left it as well, “I'd find it hard to believe the warehouse had unwanted visitors. Oxye literally did everything he could to ensure it wasn't able to be broken into.”</p><p>They went up a floor to where Molly and Oxye usually rested. Things were very off, however. Molly wasn't asleep on her couch, and the door to Oxye's workshop looked as if it was opened rather forcefully. The panel was fried and the sounds of wires sparking and discharging randomly could be heard from inside. Both of their ears immediately perked, signaling that they were on the alert. Ventus tossed his sister one of his smaller caliber plasma pistols, and she knew what she was supposed to do. Ventus, gun drawn, slowly slid the glitching, armored door to the side as he made his way around the corner, only to immediately holster it as he ran into the room, Vosh following behind suit, though she'd keep her aim on the door in case this ended up being a trap, “What the hell happened here? How'd we not hear this? Ventus, this is some...this is work you'd do, right? Breaking in, hacking and all of that shit? They fried everything here. Like easily. I thought Oxye's stuff was encrypted beyond belief?”</p><p>“Doesn't matter much. Take a look,” he'd say as he pointed to one of the few remaining monitors of Oxye's now-destroyed rig, the symbol of the Upper Level Elitists displayed on the screen, glitching in and out until a message displayed. A pained grunt could be heard as what looked like a struggling Fen-Chi attempted to crawl out from under a rather large pile of scrap metal. Without a second thought, Ventus immediately ran to his aid, helping move the scraps away and lifting him out of the junk, Vosh following shortly after to help Ventus keep him on his feet. Obviously it wasn't going to work if Oxye was going to have his arm in a near vertical position to hang it around Ventus's neck, so Vosh was the better option, “Ox, what the hell happened? All of your shit's destroyed, and your computer...I don't think there's any recovering from that. Not for awhile.”</p><p>“Fucking...Upper Level...” he'd struggle to say as his breathing intensified a bit from the amount of stress and anxiety he was experiencing, his chest condition flaring up and causing him immense pain, “Back traced my shit...tossed me around. Luckily those scraps were mainly aluminum-based. Light weight. Fuck, my computer...nothing was backed up. Last night's journal and evidence are gone!”</p><p>Ventus patted his back as he left Oxye with his sister, “Just stay calm, Ox. We'll figure this out. I have a feeling who or whatever did this also has a link to why Ashir is missing, but we need to find your sister. Where is she?” he'd ask as he began moving other destroyed projects out of the way, wondering if Molly had been tossed around as well.</p><p>Oxye merely coughed for a good 5 minutes, trying to catch his breath properly enough to at least speak without having to heave over to try and breathe, “Agh...Molly? Where's Molly? God that sounds horrible to ask, but where the hell is she? They didn't do anything to her did they?” his breathing began to increase again, his chest pounding and his head light. Vosh ruffled his hair by rubbing his beanie.</p><p>“Yo, calm down nerd. I'm sure Molly's okay. She always pops in and out at random moments. I'm sure she'll pop up some time soon,” the Ngirrth'luin girl reassured the Fen-Chi. It was pretty odd for her to be so compassionate towards her friend, but helping raise her sister like she'd been doing had caused some mother-like instincts to begin forming, though nothing major enough to change who she was. Her ears twitched as she thought she heard the sounds of muffled, weak growls and padded feet thumping roughly against a metal door, “Hey Ventus, go check that door over there. Yeah, that one. The door to the uh...what does she call it? 'The Keep'? God she's as much of a nerd as you, Ox.”</p><p>Ventus nodded as he followed to where Vosh had directed. He heard the muffled sounds as well. Luckily her little room didn't have some access code or device like Oxye's, but it was obvious why she couldn't open the door once he slid it open, “...I'm surprised they managed to get a grip on you, shrimp. You could've easily squirmed away,” he'd joke as he knelt down and began to untie her feet and wrists, as well as remove a strange type of 'tape' off of her muzzle, “Huh...synthetic, but I've never seen anything like this before. I should probably start looking into smuggling stuff down from up there. Might give me an edge I'd need to-”</p><p>“They fried my hard drive, ruining all of my games and they caught me in the middle of character creation! I had the perfect model, too!” she'd exclaim as she scurried onto her feet, slamming on her keyboard that'd had its keys picked off individually until only the letters 'U, B, L, O, and W' remained. Obviously they didn't even have any quarrel with her because this looked more like a severe bullying scene than what Oxye'd gone through, “Now how am I going to recover all of my stuff? I should've listened to Oxye and backed it all up. But no, I had to be hard headed and insist that my 1 terabyte solid state drive could handle it. Ventus, kill me. I mean, no, don't, but please do. I guess. My life is nothing but a lie now...”</p><p>Ventus looked at the androgynous Fen-Chi with a smirk, slightly entertained by her gaming struggles, “You're welcome, by the way. Do you have any clue what actually happened here? Your brother's freaking out over there so we can't get a clue out of him. I mean there was that message on that scree-”</p><p>“Hey, Ventus? Might wanna come read this. I think I know where Ashir is, and I think I know where we're going. At least where I'm going. And it's going to end in a violent act of murder in some degree, most likely. Not of me, of them. These 'agents', as they signed their little fucking message here,” an extremely annoyed Vosh would say as she continued to read the message, Ventus moving over to read it as well, “They even have the fucking nerve to say they're not gonna harm her if we just 'hand Vosh over'. Like I'd ever voluntarily let anyone take me in any way, shape or form, hmph...oh, and they want you to either hand yourself in to be imprisoned and interrogated for life or face trial by execution, Ven. These people are fucking nuts.”</p><p>Ventus finally put a hand over Vosh's muzzle, muffling her voice if she thought about continuing, because with how she was going now, she probably could. A bit of silence was what he needed to properly read over the last bits of the message that'd been left on the screen:</p><p>...and your sister. We know a lot about this little rat. Just as much as we know about your people themselves. You can't hide from us anymore. Other agents might've failed in trying to subdue and/or kill you, but as the Ace-in-the-Hole team, we've got quite the reputation to live up to. And this can either get really messy or proceed without the need for anything too violent. Rest assured that the longer you drag this out, the longer I'm going to take killing either of you when I'm given the okay. Lucky for you, this is a clean job, otherwise Agent 'S' would've gladly unloaded an arsenal in your little 'warehouse', killing not only you two pieces of garbage, but your sister and your friends who you've grown oh so attached to, which is odd considering how your species behaves. Like fucking savages. Level 15, Central Factory, Bottom Floor, Central Processing room. Ask your little 'slicer' about it. It's the Lower Level's main information hub. Come unarmed and ready to face us before we take you into custody. Oh, and don't worry about your little sister. Agent 'S' loves her just as much as she's obsessed with you, Vosh. She'll be taken care of properly, unlike how you've been handling it this past year. And if you try anything funny, we'll end her. And you. - 'H'</p><p>It wasn't long before Ventus drew out and shot his sidearm in a very agitated quickdraw fashion at the screen, showing how much this bothered even him. He was one to bide his frustrations and unleash them in private away from the others, but this was the first time he'd ever show them that he'd reached his limit. Even Vosh was in a bit of shock that Ventus would do something like this without thinking. He just ruined Oxye's last and most expensive monitor, meaning that whatever could've been accessed and recovered was now lost to just data in a hard drive with no way to display it, for now any ways. The usual relaxed, cocky smile that formed on his face most times was nothing more than a neutral, rather emotionless expression. Vosh already had her hand in her pocket, ready to activate the remote that would've triggered her brother's shock collar, but she knew that even that wouldn't stop him from being like this, meaning she had no choice but to go with it. She took a few steps back, knowing that he'd swing at her if she tried saying anything before, “C-Calm down, Ventus. Look, we'll find her. I'm sure Oxye knows where and what they're talking about. We'll find her, I promise.”</p><p>It took awhile for the Fen-Chi to finally calm down and stand on his feet in a stable manner, though his breathing was still a bit short, a hand pressed to his chest as he tried to apply some pressure to it in an attempt to ease the pain, “They're right. I know what they're talking about. Level 15's factory was converted to a data center for the first five Levels after the original Novus City was established. It used to act as what Level 2's Library does now, though much more primitive in design. Ran off of electric wiring, a multitude of disk drives in place of books and a powerful processing center. Unfortunately technology had evolved at an alarming rate since then, meaning it went obsolete almost as soon as Levels 6-10 were made, and essentially powered down and retired by the time the Upper Levels were finished. Why they want you guys to meet them their for Ashir is beyond me. Sounds like a trap-”</p><p>“Something I'd know a lot about, by the way,” a still upset Molly would cut in as she gave a sagely nod.</p><p>“...right, what she said. It sounds like a trap for you two. Especially since there's been some odd activity around that Factory. I'm guessing it's those two 'Agents' and their work, but the stuff I've been picking up down there is comparable to the activity that occurs, or rather occurred, around the portal to your old city. Nothing as significant as when Cthulhu came into this world, but definitely more prevalent than when you two or Ashir came here. And the strangest part?” he'd ask as he coughed a bit, his breath finally coming to a calm, “This isn't portal activity. It's presence. Something you guys give off when you start becoming upset or emotionally disturbed.”</p><p>Ventus continued to bide with his sidearm in hand, staring at the destroyed screen that displayed the message which upset him to this this degree not too long ago while his sister looked to Oxye with a rather concerned expression, “So you're saying that if those assholes up top have access to what you used to, which they more than likely do...they can track us based on the kind of emotions we exhibit?”</p><p> </p><p>“It's not just the emotions. For some reason, whenever you guys get emotional, whether it be anger, sadness, happiness...it causes your little personal atmospheres to have an increased level of briny, humid air. Even moreso when you guys use those uh...tendrils, or arms. Whatever you call them. It's all related in some way. But that's all I really know. I'd offer to show you what I looked into about it, but uh...my rig is destroyed, for however long.” Oxye sighed as he looked back to the destroyed tech station and incomplete projects that he'd never get to finish now, “But we're wasting time here. No, you and Ventus are wasting time here. I have to clean this up. Try to salvage what I can. Try to get back into the network for you two and help guide you from the waves. Nerdy stuff,” he commented as he motioned Vosh to grab her brother and get moving. Whether it was to go to where they were told to go or to do something else.</p><p>The Ngirrth'luin girl gave a hesitant nod as she shuffled over towards her still seething brother, giving a tug on his muscle shirt, “Yo, c'mon. We gotta go. Unless you want me to do all the asskicking myself before and after we get Ashir ba-” she was cut off as she felt a few weapons forcefully placed into her hands, one a firearm and the other a familiar sheath of a blade. They were her old weapons that she used when the two of them were both involved in mercenary work. It'd just been so long that she'd forgotten what they felt like. She used to carry them on her all the time, too, “...Vox and Nyx? Ventus, we're going on a recovery, not a k-”</p><p>“They marked their graves the moment they laid a hand on an Ngirrth'luin, Vosh. More specifically our little pup of a sister. And don't act as if you're not feeling the same as I am. It's how we are as a people. Now go get your other gear from my room. We're leaving in 15.” Ventus snarled the last sentence as he pulled away from his sister's light grasp on his shirt, walking out of Oxye's destroyed workshop with long, heavy strides, the sound of his boots echoing throughout the room and warehouse as he made his way towards his room. Again, Vosh's hand slid into her pocket with the intent to try and shock her brother into a relaxed state, but she knew her brother was right. Though she hid it better than her brother at the moment, the situation was causing her skin to crawl and fur to stand. It wouldn't be long before she snapped, and from how things were going so far, it seemed as if the both of them would snap simultaneously.</p><p>She shook her head a few times before looking at her two close friends with a concerned yet infuriated look in her eyes. The two Fen-Chi's knew they could not convince her otherwise, especially if the calmer of the two had already been upset long before her. And so the athletic-bodied girl left the room with haste, putting herself into a jog as she made her way to her brother's room as well. Her brother had already finished, her catching sight of him as he stood waiting near the front entrance of the warehouse for her to grab her things. As she approached her brother's room, however, she'd stop a few steps out, feeling something odd looming over her. It was familiar, yet completely strange to her. She stood there for a few seconds, only shifting her eyes around as she tried to figure out what might've been going on. She felt her fur stand up. Not out of anger or frustration this time, but of fear. Fear of something she felt was unknown to her yet completely memorable from times past. Without a moment more of hesitation, she whipped herself around to face where she'd just come from, only to see nothing but utter blackness. A void of nothingness, “...where the hell?” she'd ask quietly as she looked around before turning back to where she was headed, only to see and realize that the void was everywhere around her. Before long, she heard a faint voice echo through the blackness, though it was inaudible whispers that guided her towards a 'door', though that door was placed similar to where her brother's room was. The voice beckoned her towards it, which she really had no choice in this matter because her legs seemed to move involuntarily. She slowly realized what was happening here, though, “...Nexus? Is that you? But how? I thought all of those modifications to Vox would've led you to want to find another host?” The voice's whispering echoed through the room once more as it caused a locker to appear in the corner of the room, moving her towards it and forcing her to equip her old combat gear. Knee pads, arm bandages, a longer tank top, scarf and light backpack filled with other small arms. The void went silent once more as everything seemed to disappear. A rather scared Vosh looked around hesitantly, wondering if this was all just an illusion created by her old companion that inhabited her old blade. Those thoughts were confirmed as she looked behind her to see a faint, translucent image of what looked like a small pup, similar to her own self, though the spirit's scheme was orange-yellow, “So it was you, then,” the Ngirrth'luin commented as she offered a hand towards the spirit, only to stop as she heard the pup screech, causing everything she was just experiencing to disappear. The void, the image and her actions all gone now, only her now standing beside her brother near the front entrance of.</p><p>“...Nexus?”</p><p>“Nexus.”</p><p>They both nodded. It only made sense. Vosh was the older of the two of them, so she received the damn cursed blade as a ceremony to their entitlement as Children of Ngirrth'lu. Not only that, but they were pretty sure the thing was bound to her through some ritual they were never told about. They both shook their heads. Their trains of thought were on a strange level of connection at the moment and the last thing they needed was to ponder about their past. What mattered at this moment was their objective to recover their sister from two supposed 'Agents' that had the nerve to even lay hands on an Ngirrth'luin pup. And so they set off to the streets of Level 13, making their way on foot to one of the farthest out public elevators. Luckily not many were on the streets today, or else Vosh's wardrobe change might set off some red flags to those who saw her on a near daily basis. After all, it'd been awhile since she had Vox and Nyx on her. The sounds of the hover vehicles above their heads were sort've entrancing, really. Especially when they looked up to see the holo-trails of them, giving a sort of light show that danced above their heads. It was a moment of peace in their newfound frustration, something they did not mind. After about an hour of this, they'd reached the large, public elevator, it arriving as they did, almost as if it'd been manipulated to be there. Especially since it was empty. Usually these things were packed full of people, but...nothing tonight. They both gave a low growl. They had no idea what they were getting into, but they had no choice.</p><p>They took simultaneous steps into the large, high tech cage, lights abundant and holo panels galore, all just to simply transport civilians up and down, though some of the destinations it was mapped to travel to were towards the center of Novus City as a whole, including their destination. Ventus's expression never changed. He knew what his objective was. But his sister was rather astounded. She'd been in a large capacity civilian elevator before, but this was relatively new to her. Either this was recently implemented into this elevator shaft or this was a cart called directly down from the Upper Levels itself. She then felt the sharp pain of cold synthetic metal lightly smack her across the back of the head, Ventus trying to get her to focus as well. She growled a bit, knowing that he was right but despising that he was, but the growl would be cut short as she stumbled a bit from the elevator beginning its rather rapid plunge down towards Level 15. It didn't help that the lights inside of the cart all shut off as well, leaving only 2 service lights on that illuminated the spots where they stood, as if this was all planned out from the beginning.</p><p>The cart then came to a rather abrupt halt. The sounds of the cart's mechanisms whirring and humming gave the indication that it was in the middle of doing something, but what? The service lights turned off for a moment, letting the cart turn to complete darkness. Was this another illusion by Nexus? More than likely not as Ventus stated, “Cart's dark and stopped. I did the math in my head. We plummeted down twice as fast as a normal cart, and if I'm not messing anything up functionally, then we're half a Level below 15.”</p><p>Vosh couldn't really get a good sight on her brother, outside of his glowing eyes and low-glowing fur splotches. She was going to question him, but at this point where she had no clue what was going on, even moreso than usual, it was best to take her mercenary of a brother's word for it, “Half a Level below 15? Then...this has to be a cart from the Upper Levels. Normal Carts stop at 15 then move forward into stations. This thing-”</p><p>“Is in a service tunnel only accessible by those up above. From the sounds of it, the cart it switching rails and the tunnel behind that leads back up it closing. Maybe we should've thought this through a bit more. Brought some more firepower,” Ventus said as he completed Vosh's suspicions. He couldn't have been more right, however. The cart then whirred back on, though the lights remained off. It'd jerk forward as it began accelerating at a rather impressive rate, causing the twins to lose both of their footing, though it'd affect Vosh more than Ventus as she felt herself stumble backwards against the wall of the cart. After about a minute, the cart's 'walls' began to lower, revealing the access tunnel they were being transported through. This would've amazed Oxye if he was able to come.</p><p>The tunnel itself was hardly a 'tunnel', more a bridge that the cart traveled along towards the center of Novus City. In fact, most if not all of the old ruins of New York could be seen below, including the remnants of the first emergence portal from where Cthulhu entered this world and reigned chaos for years on end. Yet again, Vosh would be the only one of the two who'd get caught fascinated by what she was seeing. Despite her knowledge that there was places that only the Upper Level occupants could go, she never would've thought that they have ways to even move around them in the slums in secret. Speaking of which, “...if they're trying to keep all of this a secret from all of us living in Old Novus, why would they risk letting us see all of this? We could easily escape, gather up some kind of resistance and then strike at them from the inside.”</p><p>Ventus merely shook his head with folded arms, “That's what they want. A reason to begin genocide of the city's occupants in order to prove a point that they're truly in control. Believe me, I'm all for something along those lines, but they must know a lot more than either of us know, maybe even more than Oxye knows, and he's gone to the edges of the city trying to piece together shit like this,” he'd then reach into a pocket, pulling out a cigarette and lighter then proceeding to rest the cig in his mouth before lighting it. He took a deep drag, exhaling through his nostrils as he spoke, “But that's not what matters here, so stop getting sidetracked. These jackasses have our kid sister, and I don't take kindly to people touching my sisters. You know that.”</p><p>Vosh merely facepalmed, dragging her hand down her face and tugging on her lips as she did so, “Yes, I know. For the last time, he was a friend. And now he's a friendly tomato because of you. Poor guy didn't even get to play his first set. You really didn't need to punch him that hard.”</p><p>The train approached the center of the city at a much faster rate now, causing the twins to stumble once more as they felt it speed towards the center, the sight of a vertical tunnel coming into vision. Before long, they'd reach it and come to yet another abrupt stop, making them wonder if those who rode this elevator had special shoes to prevent loss of footing, or if whoever was guiding this thing was just toying with them until it arrived and began to move up without a moment to spare, leaving the twins little time to move back up onto their feet. At this point, both them were focused on the goal at hand. Whatever they were being tricked into, whether it be a trap for imprisonment or even death, they began to mentally prepare themselves for, so much so that Vosh had even reached a state that her two forearm tendrils spawned from their splotches, pushing through the bandages that wrapped her arms. Then it stopped. The elevator had finally reached its destination, and it was nothing like they were expecting.</p><p>The cart opened in all directions, leaving the twins access to leave any way they wanted, though they both chose to proceed forward. Behind them, the elevator cart began to dismantle itself, the roof of it being pulled upwards towards the roof and the floor sealing off the way they came. This was a one way trip by the looks of it. Both of their ears perked up in alert as they thought they heard the sounds of barefooted steps. Vosh immediately took to drawing out Vox, her blade that Ventus helped convert into something much more advanced than a weapon forged in a crude manner, and as odd as it sounded, she was glad Nexus still inhabited the thing. It was one of the few presences she could trust. She held it in a reverse fasion, indicating that her style with the blade was more acrobatic and flexible moreso than upfront, but who knew how it would go if she did have to resort to combat at this point. It'd been so long since she'd sparred that the blade was merely a comforting tool at this point. However Ventus was confident that he could protect the both of them if it came down to it both of his sidearms drawn out. They surveyed their surroundings, trying to understand where they'd just been transported to, “Uh...there's three ways we could go from here, Ven. And I don't think it'd be a good idea to go down that hall over there. Y'know...the one where those footsteps came from. That sounded barefooted. As in no boots or shoes.”</p><p>They both looked at the way she was trying to avoid traveling down, and before long the other two entrances rapidly shut, causing a loud clang to echo through the room and only available hallway. A growl could be heard from down it, though it wasn't anything particularly intimidating. In fact, it sounded a lot like, “-Ashir!” Vosh exclaimed in a whisper, subconsciously giving hand signals to Ventus as an indication that they were going to move together in the direction of what she believed was Ashir's gentle growl. But then again, if they were so gentle, how could they have been heard?</p><p>They made their way into and down the hall anyways, keeping as quiet as they could, even resorting to holding their breath every so often to try and listen for anything of interest. What they picked up were sounds of tanks of liquid bubbling, as if things inhabited them, and more growls and footsteps, though they became increasingly sentimental growls. Unless the culprits behind Ashir's pupnapping were comforting the girl, then they were walking into something they definitely would not have expected. Then the end of the hall could be seen, ever slowly as they patiently made their way towards the dim lit end of the hallway. The sound of the twins' boots echoed as they finally stepped into the room, their movement slowing as they got a short glimpse of just how large the room was before they felt the entrance, and more than like their exit, close behind them suddenly and the room go dark.</p><p>Once again, the only things really visible for the time being were the green glows from the exposed green tones of the twins' bodies, though most definitely not enough to provide adequate vision of the room. It began to feel damp. They could feel their breaths moving around them as the humidity in the room began to build. Their initial thoughts caused them to think that perhaps their bodies were reacting to the situation, but those thoughts were shut down when they heard the sounds of those sentimental growls once more, though much closer than before.</p><p>Vosh inched closer to her brother, trying to push herself into his hold for the time being, though he'd give her a gentle nudge to let her know that she needed to stay strong, “Relax. Probably a power failure,” he'd say as he reached to ruffle her hair a bit, though the only response he'd get from her was a subtle whine of fear. After a few more moments, they heard power begin to surge through the wall's of the room until what looked like an observation deck at least 60 feet above them lit up and nearly blinded their vision, though the lighting from the room was not enough to fully illuminate the room they were in still.</p><p>The sounds of an old analog microphone fizzling on echoed throughout the room, causing the ears of the two Ngirrth'luin to lower as a slight sign of annoyance at the sound, a rather annoyed growl coming from something else that wasn't them. The twins assumed a defensive stance, already anticipating some kind of ambush from above as they looked towards the observation room. One of the window panels would be opened, the sight of a semi-muscular calf and foot of something that definitely wasn't canid in nature reaching over as if to use the sill as a seat, which was confirmed as they caught sight of a silhouetted Shark of sorts, a rather large caliber plasma rifle rested across her lap. She didn't say anything, just laughed in a rather amused and entertained manner. Her actions would be followed by another panel being opened, another figure hopping onto the window sill as a makeshift seat as well, though it was apparent that this dark figure was definitely canid in nature. The shark continued to chuckle for a few more moments before finally being signaled by the other to stop. After a minute or so of silence and observation, the male canid finally spoke, “At least you two are obedient, unlike your actual people. What's sad is that it took kidnapping your kid sister. Pretty disappointing that it takes something horrible for you to finally obey those above you and follow rules and instructions like good lap dogs,” he began as he reached back into the observation room, the sounds of muffled whines and cries heard as he pulled a small figure onto his lap before dangling the figure by the scruff of its neck, causing the cries to intensify, “She's a cute girl, Vosh. You'd think you'd have taken better care of her much like your Caretaker did you.”</p><p>Those words and the cries of what was obviously Ashir caused the growls they'd been hearing to intensify in an instant. The two figures they'd just saw above in that illuminated room now gone, Ashir with them. The room began to slowly dim back into a mildly lit state, a hallway from the other end of the room opening up. The twins took a few steps back, but something definitely felt different now. The room felt as if it'd quietly expanded as one of those two figures spoke down to them. What they thought was going to be a wall behind them turned to a mildly wet floor, a sign that the dampness of the room had caused an environment similar to R'lyeh to being formed. The dark hallway entrance across the way echoed with familiar yet foreign growls and gibberish. Before long, however, a rather large, clawed hand reached into the room and against the corner of the hallway entrance, almost pulling a figure out from the darkness, though nothing could be made of it initially outside of its familiar attire.</p><p>After a moment of suspense, the figure finally full on pulled itself out in what was a rather aggressive leap towards the center of the room. The twins watched it with caution, both of their weapons drawn and aimed rather hesitantly at the hooded figure. Its anatomy, from what they could determine so far, was oddly familiar. What mainly gave it away was its tail and easy adaptation to the room's suddenly warm, humid atmosphere. Despite the amount of mystery behind the figure, Vosh thought she felt something, “...Ventus, I-I think I know who or what that is. It's-”</p><p>“Ngirrth'luin ascended. Nothing more, nothing less. It's what happens to us when we reach life's fulfillment, satiate a blood lust or become one with Ngirrth'luin on a transcendental plain of thought. But that's just the gist of it,” Ventus explained as he began to charge his dual wielded side arms, the cigarette butt in his mouth being spat out as he kept his focus on the figure.</p><p>“No, it's...” Vosh began as she lowered her weapon for a second, only to regret it as the figure seemingly screeched at the top of its lungs in their old language-</p><p>“Phantasm!” The volume at which it emitted the scream was almost enough to deafen Vosh, but obviously it wasn't a Call of Ngirrth'lu if it didn't, meaning whoever this was wasn't once an Alpha type. Vosh stumbled back a few steps, quickly putting herself back into her positioning to ready for anything that might come. The figure growled and snarled as it sniffed the area in front of it, acquiring the scent of the twins before it moved to slowly remove its hood, revealing that the head of whoever it was wasn't what it used to be. Obviously this process of 'ascendance' that even Vosh didn't know about was something that was being kept secret. In fact, she even looked to Ventus for a second with slight concern and confusion as to how he knew about this, but it didn't matter as she further examined the figure. The body shape was rather feminine, especially the structure of her cranium, though it was apparent she wasn't an Alpha type from her lack of larger canines. Her ears were enlarged and tipped with a mossy teal with one of them missing a slight chunk of flesh where a traditional piercing once resided, now obviously gone due to being torn out. These things alone added up to her wanting to conclude it was her old Caretaker, but the way her eyes were covered in bandages prevented her from ever figuring this out. Aside from all of that, it looked almost nothing like any Ngirrth'luin she'd ever seen in any book or picture. The female was hunched over, her limbs elongated and her claws on both her hands and feet growing wildly, “Phantasm...!”</p><p>Vosh became distraught with clashing emotions. If this truly was an Ngirrth'luin, which it had to be if it knew her last name, why did she look like this? What kind of knowledge or event could have caused her to become such a beast? And her movement from just her entry...it was unnatural, as if she'd actually become some kind of monster that had no control over its want to attack and dominate. However, where Vosh showed hesitation as she took another step back, lowering her blade in the process, Ventus did not, “For fuck's sake!” he'd exclaim as he moved to pull the trigger on one of his plasma pistols, aiming straight at the female's cranium in an attempt to take it out in one shot.</p><p>“Ventus, no!” a confused Vosh would scream as she shoved him out of the way in that split moment, causing his shot to somewhat miss, only scathing the bandages of the female, causing some of them and her flesh to burn slightly, causing her to scream and growl as she flailed about the room in a thrash of anger and pain. The bandages that covered her eyes and majority of her head began to fall to the ground as she thrashed about in her fit, “What are you doing?!”</p><p>“I already told you what that thing is! It's not one of us, it's a damn beast!”</p><p>“So trying to kill her makes you better?! Ventus, she's one of us!”</p><p>“Damn it, Vosh!” he'd exclaim as he shoved her away once more, taking aim with his offhand sidearm at the still pained female that thrashed about. Once again, however, his shot would be thrown off as a distraught Vosh shoved him out of the way, kicking his weapons out of his hands in the process using an old counter-attack method she somehow managed to pull after such a long time. The twins snarled at each other, all the while the agitated female on the other side of the room recovered, moving and facing towards the twins. It was at this moment that Vosh finally realized that she was right from the start, but what had they done to her Caretaker? All along the spinal cord of her neck, which was once hidden by bandages as well, were short length tendrils, similar to the large, rather long ones Vosh had spawned from her forearms, though much smaller than hers of course. Her eyes...they were bleeding, and the sight of what looked like the growing of a third and fourth socket above her natural ones could be seen, though it was nothing more than flesh covered bone and raw flesh. Vosh couldn't believe it.</p><p>“...Qi'ara? Qi'ara, what happened!?” she exclaimed as she hesitantly held her blade up, ready for an attack from the old Caretaker. Her hair which was once so long was butchered, as if she'd gone mad. Vosh used to cling to those lengthy locks when she was still young. However those memories were cut short as the Caretaker sprung from her distant spot directly at and towards Vosh, screaming her last name the entire time.</p><p>Vosh closed her eyes as if she was going to accept some kind of cruel fate that had to do with her abandoning her Caretaker and home. She hated it there, but this made her regret ever leaving. She could've stopped all of this, right? In that moment, Ventus also sprung from his spot and swept Vosh out of the way, causing him to take the charge from the Caretaker. Fortunately for Ventus, she was a bit smaller than him, though her new anatomy did cause her weight to increase a bit, meaning her felt a rough crash into the wall behind him, but nothing that he couldn't recover from as he forcefully shoved the female off of himself with a pair of booted feet back towards the center of the room.</p><p>The Caretaker's assault didn't stop there. Within moments she'd already took to chasing down and attempting to slash at Vosh who refused to attack, only dodge around as she dodged with quick, agile side and back steps. Her sadness at what she was facing overwhelmed her, but realizing that her Caretaker was going to continue on like this shifted said emotions into merciful ones, her grip on her blade slowly returning to a counter-offensive one. Meanwhile, Ventus scurried across the room for his weapons that Vosh had so mindlessly knocked out of his hands, almost regretting bringing her along, but he definitely would have been in over his head if he attempted this alone.</p><p>The distraught Caretaker continued hacking and slashing at the ever vigilant and agile Vosh, who's expression began to shift from a depressed and confused one to a more focused one. An expression that gave off that she had intention to strike at her old Caretaker when the opportunity arrived as to disable her and kill her quickly if she so had to. The frenzied Caretaker frantically spoke in their tongue, “N'girrth'lu! I saw him! His gloriously decrepit form! Our god! He gifted me with the knowledge of the Great Old Ones, Phantasm! You and your brother cannot comprehend it! You should have stayed with me, your mother! We all could have basked in his chaos~!”</p><p>Vosh's eyes began to water, though her focus did not falter as she continued to dodge around the attacks of her 'mother'. The opportunity to strike had come. From the distance, Ventus was already lining up a shot to the Caretaker's legs, intending to cripple her as he unleashed to very precise, rapid shots from his sidearms, successfully landing the shots and causing the Caretaker to scream in pain as she fell to the ground and tumbled into the wall in a rather violent manner. Vosh followed up on the shots, dashing over towards the Caretaker, blade in hand and held to the back of her tendril covered, exposed neck. However, Vosh became hesitant once more. Examining her Caretaker's robes, it was apparent these were not hers, but of another origin, “...Upper Levels? But how? Qi'ara, what is it you aren't able to tell m--!”</p><p>Vosh felt the Caretaker buck her head back into her own, causing Vosh's temper to flair in almost an instant, which in turn resulted in the Ngirrth'luin girl cutting her blade through the neck of her old Caretaker in a fit of rage and hatred. What would have been a merciful end turned to a vengeful one once it was all pieced together, “...fuck you mom...” an emotionally confused Vosh mumbled as she dropped her weapons to the floor before falling to her knees and resting her head against the corpse of her old Caretaker. Ventus ran over as soon as he heard the sounds of Vosh executing their old Caretaker, somewhat disappointed that he wasn't able to interrogate the woman before Vosh lost her temper. He looked down at his traumatized twin, unsure of what to make of the scene, only doing what he was right, and that was to pick her up and carry her, picking up her weapons and placing them in her backpack beforehand. The only tears that flowed from Vosh were silent ones as Ventus carried her into the hallway where Qi'ara came from, revealing there was another, still accessible elevator that seemed as if it was placed there as a reward. They immediately set foot in it, which with it set itself onto a pre-determined course towards Level 13. Ventus set his sister down on the ground for the trip was actually quite smooth this time around.</p><p>“...I didn't think I'd ever have to do it, Ventus. I've finally bloodied my hands, and with the blood of mom, no less.”</p><p>“Sshh, sh, Vosh. It's alright. We'll be alright. Just try not to think about it. If you do...then think of it as one of those nightmares you used to have when you were a pup. Yeah, it's just...a nightmare. Nothing more. You'll wake up from it soon enough,” he said with a shaky voice, showing that even he had reached his emotional limit with witnessing the death of their Caretaker, “It'll all be over soon, Vosh. Just rest for now. Nothing more than a bad dream...”</p><p> </p><p>* * *</p><p>By the time the twins had finally made it back to the warehouse, it was nearing 6 in the morning, or what was assumed to be so. There were no trading of words between the twins and the Fen-Chi siblings. There was no questioning, debriefing or anything along those lines. The two Ngirrth'luin took to the main sofa, Vosh resting against her brother's shoulder and Ventus against head of the rather comfortable seat. Nothing needed to be said as the emotional state of the both of them was enough of an indication to Oxye that they'd run into something he'd already been aware of for awhile. Even now, his dabbling in all of this knowledge was something that was starting to get the better of him. Nightmares were commonplace when he actually rested. So why did he continue to dig deeper? For those two, who he called his friends, and even more importantly his family. Digging into all of this was trouble, but if it helped them with their past and his quest to expose this city, as well as help get their sister back...so be it.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Nexus</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esvw3fxlXXE">Head Full of Shadows</a>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em><b>Chapter 2: Nexus</b> </em>
</p><p>“...y'know, Ox...I really don't know what to do anymore. None of that should have happened. I know, it's been awhile since it all happened, but the thought of how it went down and what I had to resort to doing in order to keep not only myself safe, but possibly anyone else that might have accidentally run into her when she was like that,” a rather shaky Vosh would begin, her voice trembling, clearly showing signs of mental trauma, “...maybe it really was a mistake that we came here in the first place. Those things I hear around the Lower Levels about me and Ventus and how nothing but trouble seems to follow us, they're all starting to sound more like truth rather than just trash talk. I mean I understand that we're not exactly good luck charms, but we're not cursed people. It's not like I want any of this stuff to happen, or whatever. I just...want to be happy, y'know? Live life like I want to, not in some organized, cult-like society. But seeing what we did that night makes me think that maybe I haven't escaped it. And this damn blade is a warning, or possibly even a reminder, of that...”</p><p>In truth, the girl was not speaking to her friend at all. There was no one else in her room. Just herself, Vox, her converted ceremonial blade, and her sidearm, Nyx. All in front of a cracked mirror that was so tarnished that she couldn't even recognize herself, much how she couldn't recognize her old Caretaker, now deceased by her hands. Her own bloodstained hands that she could not seem to clean correctly. That she could not unsee the stains of. In other words, her hands were clean, but the image of seeing them bloodied with Qi'ara's life force haunted her vision permanently. So what was she doing in her room rambling at a mirror? Was she seeking answers? Perhaps a revelation from someone or something? Or perhaps she'd lost it much like anyone who might experience this kind of thing.</p><p>Her vision veered away from the mirror, looking towards another to her side. One that was clean, relatively new and decorated with taped photos of herself, her brother and even her pup of a sister. They brought a slight amount of comfort to her, but only until she realized that she'd gone against her brother's morals and that her sister was missing, something she felt that she was entirely responsible for, “I couldn't even keep you safe, Ashir. And now I'm as much of a monster as mom. Ventus says he doesn't see me any different, and I have the feeling you'd say the same if you'd just pay attention to when we try to help you pick up on Basic,” she'd give a bit of a chuckling sniffle of sorrow as she turned back to the cracked, dirty mirror, “I really am just like any other Ngirrth'luin. I should've just dealt with my fate back in R'lyeh. Gone on and done what they said I would have to do. Become that 'war machine' they wanted me to be. I'm sure they would've tried to do the same to you, Ashir. But luckily you were raised by our actual Mother. It must've been a much more pleasant experience. I'm jealous. I kind've regret ever letting them raise me in that tower...”</p><p>The girl slumped over onto the metal dresser upon which that broken mirror rested, resting her head in her arms atop the sheathed blade dubbed Vox. Her eyes remained open, but the tears formed and dripped from her oculars onto the blade anyways. The longer she looked at it, the more anger and sorrow she felt, knowing that this thing was what kept her connected to R'lyeh, whether she liked it or not. And she could not rid herself of it. It was bound to her in blood. Destroying it would almost be like destroying a part of her, “...why? Why couldn't they have given you to Ventus or any other fucking Ngirrth'luin of our generation? Why did I have to be the one to be bound to you and you bound to me?” she'd begin to question the blade senselessly, unaware that the 'spirit' that inhabited it, the presence that connected her to the blade and R'lyeh still, was listening intently, “Why did they even give me you, huh? It's...it's stupid! It's pointless! I'm not fit to be some great warrior, Nexus! So why do you insist on letting yourself continue to be bound to me?! You're powerful enough, right?! Manifest yourself into something independent and leave me! I don't want any fucking connections to my past if everything that's happened up to this point is because of my god damn fucking origins!” She'd yell and thrash about while she exclaimed, gripping at her hair and head in an attempt to try to calm herself, only to fail as she felt herself grip at and unsheath the electro-blade converted weapon, staring at the thing with crazed, guilty eyes. After a moment, the blade would be sent flying across the room in an uncontrolled fashion, causing it to crash against her clean, good condition mirror and break it, causing it to crack from top to bottom, some chunks of it falling to the ground along with the weapon.</p><p>All the while outside of her room, both of the Fen-Chi's and her brother sat, listening to what was happening on the inside of her room behind that closed, heavy steel door. No wise cracks were being made, no jokes, not even talk between the three. In reality, they were all worried. Was the pushover-jokester punk girl they all knew losing it just because she did what she had to? They all understood that death was something that hardly anyone could comprehend, and that murder was something else entirely. But what she'd done was something between the two. Perhaps that's why she was like this? Molly began to slowly move, as if she had the intention to stand up and enter the room, attempt to comfort her friend, but Oxye would merely grip at her arm, giving the silent sign that told her to just keep still and wait.</p><p>How much longer would they all have to deal with this? This had been occurring for a week straight. All they could do was wait until her fit ceased and she passed out, allowing them to quietly enter and reset everything she'd done. Replace the shattered mirror, place the blade back on her dresser like it was before she always did the same thing. This was insanity, and Ventus, always calm and collected, always seemingly knowing what to do when it came to dire situations like this, had no idea what to do. Only just let it repeat itself. Why he insisted they keep having her repeat this? Simply put, the first night they did not do the reset, she woke up and began to do something she never did before, and that was chant in their native tongue, almost as if she was praying to the Great One that was Ngirrth'lu himself. Why she did this, they had no clue. Ventus had no clue. But one thing was for certain thus far: it all happened after what was about to reoccur once more, between Vosh and the presence known as 'Nexus'. Ventus was familiar with the presence, for he'd have to deal with her when Vosh was still fairly new to possessing Vox. But all of this was happening at such an odd time and at such a fast pace that he could not be certain.</p><p>The distraught girl shifted her sight back and forth between the two broken mirrors. Maybe...maybe these were truly representative of what she was. Broken. Shattered. In need of repair. She looked to her blade that lay on the ground, surrounded and covered by multiple shards of broken, reflective glass. Perhaps Vox represented her, surrounded by broken pieces of her own mind and thoughts. Maybe she was over thinking it all. However, the more she thought about it, the more her vision and mind began to draw to a blank, slowly blacking out her sight and thoughts until she believed herself asleep, only remembering the last feeling of dropping to her knees on the broken mirror glass. No cries of pain were let out, only the sound of a door slamming open at the sound of a body crashing down onto the clutter of shards.</p><p>
  <em>'Your thoughts and pain have lead you astray, girl. Accept that it happened as I have. It's only in our nature to remove the weakest links from our bloodline, and it is your responsibility as a Child to fulfill this nature as a duty.'</em>
</p><p>The words echoed all around her, her eyes still closed to it all, not wanting to look into the never ending blackness that she knew would be there. She didn't want to admit she'd lost the mental fight once more. She didn't like accepting that she lost in general. Sitting on the implied ground, she merely clenched her fists, crossed her arms and hunched over in an attempt to let it all pass.</p><p>
  <em>'You try so hard to defeat your purpose, your drive, your title. But the reality is you can't. You never will. Satiate yourself, Child.'</em>
</p><p>She knew what the voice was talking about, and it wasn't something she ever participated in like her brother, but for him it was different. He had control where she did not. He picked targets where she knew she'd go on a mindless assault. He knew how to say 'no' to it if it became too much where she would not stop until she knew she'd end up like her deceased Caretaker. She curled up tighter, her tail wrapping around her now as she continued to try and drown out the voice.</p><p>
  <em>'If doing it for Him simply because you fear Him and what happens when you finally satisfy Him terrifies you, then do it for yourself. Wield me, Child. She was just the start. You cannot stop now. There are others like us--'</em>
</p><p>“No!” the Ngirrth'luin would cry as she burst from her curled up spot, her eyes filled with tears but expressing emotions of frustration and hatred. But not of the voice, moreso of herself, “Why would I ever allow myself to go back to those teachings?! They're the reason Ventus and I ran in the first place! I'm no war toy! I'm a being with emotions and desires outside of our people's crazed tendencies!” She slammed her fists on the void she assumed was the floor. Just in that fit of rage, a slight amount of her accent had managed to slip out, causing the presence that was the voice to finally smirk from its shadowy hiding place, revealing a set of small, yet sharp and developed teeth less than three yards from the girl.</p><p>
  <em>'You're more like them than you think, and I am a reminder of that, remember? You tried hard to get rid of me, tried to change me, tried to possibly erase me. But the reality is that you'd be like those mirrors if you managed to do it. Two broken pieces of a broken whole. I am you, Vosh. And you are me.'</em>
</p><p> </p><p>The presence then began to slowly fizzle into view, seemingly slipping out of the void until its form was finally revealed to Vosh. Once again, it took on the form of a young Ngirrth'luin Alpha type female, mimicking many of Vosh's features but radiating from her splotches and hair a yellow-orange instead of green, displaying not only its uniqueness but strength over Vosh. The Ngirrth'luin girl just stared at the presence, her eyes still tear filled and showing her disappointment in herself from her lack of control of all of this, “This wasn't supposed to happen. Why did you make me do it, Nexus? She was my moth-”</p><p><em>'That was your Caretaker. Differentiate between your Mother and Caretaker. You allowed yourself to become much too attached to something so temporary. A tool. You realize why you were given my vessel in the first place, don't you? It was to pierce the heart of Qi'ara and claim your first sacrifice. But you ran. Your Caretaker would've been more proud to have been killed in the name of Ngirrth'lu by one of his Children than turned how she was.' </em>The presence known as Nexus turned away from Vosh, staring out into the void space as if envisioning something Vosh couldn't, though nothing really happened except her turning back to face the girl, <em>'That is why your Mother chose such a close friend to raise you, Child. She would have gladly died by the hands of an infamous Alpha's daughter's hands than be lead to see the truth. The truth, Vosh. Do you understand what the truth is? No, and you never will. No one will allow it. Not those above you, not those who surround you and most definitely not me. The truth will be your undoing. It will be everyone's undoing. Qi'ara was merely one of many who served their true purpose and began to seek the truth.'</em></p><p>Vosh's face showed signs of confusion, anger and hesitant curiosity. Did she just call her Mother 'infamous'? The thought of her mother being some kind of rogue like herself caused her ears to perk, but coming from the mouth of Nexus, it couldn't have meant anything good. And this 'truth' she kept mentioning...could it have been anything like what Oxye kept rambling about? But even then, calling it a 'truth' would mean that someone had to have found out about this city. And it wasn't Oxye. So how would a presence like Nexus know if she spent all of her life in that vessel that was Vox? She shook her head. These thoughts were playing games with her once more, much like Nexus always did with her, “...or maybe the 'truth' is that you influenced me from that moment I picked you up again to kill her. Is that what it is? Are you controlling all of this happening in order to punish me for not letting you serve your damn purpose? Well look no fucking further, Nexus! She's dead. By your actions, not mine.” The Ngirrth'luin had stood up in this time, giving a mocking bow and gesture to an invisible corpse.</p><p>
  <em>'You're so much like your Mother that it's quite concerning. I'm surprised at your lack of control, however. That was one thing she had. You'd think that even though you and your brother are twins, despite the physical differences, that you'd behave like each other. But I suppose that isn't the case. I can see why she planned what she did. Did what she did. Positioned herself as she did. It'll all be revealed in due time, however. There are other things that need tending to right now, like those fools who have been blinded to the truth in a forceful manner in order to keep them as obedient attack dogs. You know what they're called, right? We used to call them Sentinels back in R'lyeh. You call them Enforcers.'</em>
</p><p>Nexus could not have been more accurate. Outside of the crew's warehouse, a rather large number of Enforcers, the city's law and justice who answered only to those above them, had begun to show. Whether from the darkest, shadowy corners of unlit alleyways, from the streets as they patrolled or even dropping down from their automated transportation that traveled along major traffic paths, they seemed to be coming from all directions, beginning to close in on the front and only known entrance of the place. They donned black, exo-skeletal suits enabling them to perform necessary feats if push came to shove and wore visors that blinded them yet gave them the necessary means to only track down 'targets' and perform their duty as necessary. Each one was different for they were once ordinary citizens of the city themselves, only now loyal to greater power. Before long, they were at the front entrance of the warehouse, demanding entrance before forced entry became an option.</p><p>The Fen-Chi's were ordered to hide by Ventus, who'd already anticipated such a thing happening after all that'd transpired as of late, meaning majority of his arsenal was laid out strategically throughout the place if they indeed planned to force their way in. However self-destructive it was, he didn't plan on being taken in, not after all of them had come to discover so far. He'd rather die knowing that they did indeed come close to exposing this place like Oxye so wanted to do than be imprisoned for knowledge that they thought would not benefit those below, especially if those above handled this kind of situation with brute force. This wasn't enforcement. This was overkill in an attempt to purge the wise from Novus City.</p><p>They slammed on the door a few more times, still demanding entrance as if it was some kind of pre-programmed line. They had little to no emotion or enthusiasm in their voices, sounding almost brainwashed in their efforts to move in. The sound of metal being opened with plasma burners began to echo throughout the warehouse. It finally came down to it. But just as he heard the front door's heavy, armored door plummet to the floor, causing the rare concrete foundation to crack beneath it, another smaller, similarly armored door slid open from the floor that he and his sister resided on.</p><p> </p><p>* * *</p><p>His focus never moved from the holoprojector that visualized the entire scene and situation. It was about time he was authorized to use his personal line of Drones to take of something in an appropriately violent manner. After all, he'd been told that if capture was impossible, then death was a viable option, which was exactly what he'd briefed his little 'army' on before they took to their posts down in Level 13. His hands rested on and gripped onto the edge of the projection table as he continued to monitor the operation. His silver-blue gaze was locked on the entrance of that warehouse he'd so easily infiltrated due to the little girl's curiosity. He had no shame knowing that he'd taken advantage of all of this in order to begin accomplishing what he'd been assigned to do. Before long, he examined the large group of Enforcers force their way into the building, all of them moving in at a slow rate, showing that despite their new mentalities they still had their senses about them. Now if only that damned Shark would-</p><p>“Aww, look at you~! You look just like your sister and I just can't fucking help it~!” a rather amused Sophie would exclaim from behind the back of a now upset Hunter, “I say we should just call all of this bullshit off and have the Council be satisfied with you~. They don't need Voshy or her brother. And if I get to keep you, it'll be oh so worth it, don't you think Ashir?” She picked up the little Ngirrth'luin pup and began to swing her around, which oddly enough the girl didn't mind right now. At least this scary looking shark lady didn't act mean around her, unlike the big wolf man she always tried hiding from if the shark lady went away.</p><p>“...drop her. Now. She's a captive in this op, Sophie. She's not a damn toy. She's not yours. In fact, I believe we were told to keep our hands off of her as much as possible, don't you remember? Or maybe your air-head blanked out in the middle of the Head Councilor's more personal orders, because you tend to do that whenever something important actually comes up!” The tall, coated figure that was Hunter would state sternly as he turned his back to the holoprojected scene that played out behind him. His ice cold gaze locked with Sophie's as she gave him the death glare. In all honesty, he didn't want to deal with her anymore, especially now that she had this...rat. But in reality, she was a greater asset than he put it. Her specialization in heavier arms and experimentation in augmentation made her play quite a big role in all of his work thus far. It was only fair he kept her around as long as he had.</p><p>The shark merely sighed, though it was quite a bubbly one as she was still enjoying Ashir's presence and softness, though she did have to admit that her little robes were something that did throw her off due to remembrance of the Council's attire. With that, she set the pup down and let her scurry off out of the room. Where she went didn't really matter. There wasn't many places she could go on this building's floor without proper access and clearance, “Look, I'm just trying to enjoy myself, alright? We've been at this entire thing for two weeks straight with little to no rest. It's starting to show on both of us, especially you, Mister Way-More-Cranky-Than-Usual.” She flipped a bit of her hair out of her vision, her bubbly expression shifting to a more serious one, showing how easily she could move between fun-time and work-time.</p><p>A slight artificial breeze rolled in by her booted feet, causing her gunmetal lab coat to move around at her ankles a bit. This immediately sent a bit of a shiver down her spine. There were only so many beings cleared to walk and navigate this floor, and she had a feeling as to who or what it might've been who'd also put herself on the same floor as her partner and herself, “Big Boss is here, Hunter. Better make sure you show them what they want to see. I'd rather not be reassigned back to working in the Library, and I'm damn sure you don't want to go back to being a 'forcer, though I did dig the uniform before-”</p><p>“Shut up,” he'd state as he enlarged the projection on the table, his attention already back on it. In fact, it'd returned after Sophie had let the girl go and take off. Although he didn't show it, he was actually quite nervous for the first time in awhile. Sophie was right. He didn't want to go back to that job, and this would be one of possibly few opportunities to prove he was a valuable asset as an Agent.</p><p>From down the rather long, metallic hallway could be heard the sounds of rather happy squeals and growls, causing more shivers to travel down the spine of the two Agents, both of them nervously shoving their hands into their pockets as they turned and faced the door, the holoprojection already enlarged and ready to be presented to who they anticipated walking through that entrance, although something had already shifted out of the expected with the scene that continued to play out behind the Agents. Another artificial breeze rolled in, the two of them already feeling the moisture and temperature of the air of the controlled environment shift to a climate more suitable for their soon-to-be audience. The sounds of those light hearted growls and squeals increased in volume. They were right outside of the room, waiting to make their entrance. In unison, out of both respect and fear, the two Agents gave a rather strange type of salute, something mixed between a standard military salute and cult-like offering of their palm raised upwards towards where their visitor who began to step through the doorway, “Head Councilor.”</p><p>The figure finally stepped through, revealing their presence as they gracefully glided in, their black attire flowing with the artificial breeze that blew through the room. They donned a black robe, similar in design to the one Ashir wore, though it lacked writing along the hems and covered more of their face than her's. Even with that, the figure wore a mask upon their face, though it was different from other councilors'. It held a neutral expression, with the design of the mask being formed to match the cranial structure of whoever wore it and seemingly hid the eyes behind two almost solid artificial, blank white eyes, but the Head Councilor's lacked something the others' had, and that was an enclosed case for their muzzle, revealing only their lower jaw as to allow them to speak much more clearly than their subordinates. The figure loomed in front of the two for a few moment, allowing what was obviously Ashir to climb onto their shoulders and seat herself in a piggy-backlike fashion. They were quite short compared to the two Agents, however; perhaps only standing around 5'6”. Their lower jaw, however, the Agents always recognized, but said nothing because they knew their place, and they knew the truth. After a few more moments, the Councilor finally spoke, revealing her two rather large primary canines reveal from under their lower jowls, “Agents Hunter and Sophie. I see you've wasted little to no time,” they'd state as they began to watch the holoprojected scene behind the two Agents, “However I'm curious as to why you've proceeded with the plan so early. Determination to prove yourselves, perhaps? Or do you fear that the Council would question your hesitation? Do not answer. We all know. We always have, before you even brought my dear Ashborn back to me.” The Head Councilor seemingly nuzzled under the jaw of the rather happy Ashir who rested on their shoulders with the top of their head.</p><p>The Agents choked up a bit, not really knowing what to say, more worried about respecting the Councilor's presence than their operation at the moment. They began to speak once more, “Tell me, Sophie. As a talented scientist and marksman, did you augment my people whom you and Hunter have utilized for this little project? Do not answer. While I acknowledge both of your talents, I think you should look behind you. You've underestimated them once more.”</p><p>They hesitantly turned back to the projection behind them, unsure by what the Councilor meant by 'underestimated'. It became clear after a few seconds of watching, however. Still, neither of them said a thing. They didn't know what to say. The Head Councilor seemed to know how all of this was going to play out. Their knowledge and wisdom outclassed them by such a large margin that they wondered if they should even be the ones trying to pull the strings. It also didn't help they knew who and what the Head Councilor was. It was painfully obvious from her accent, tone and pitch. So similar to that law-breaking troublemaker they were trying to capture for them. The Councilor did not sigh or give any signs of disappointment for they could not be if they knew what was to happen before all of this even played out, “I anticipated Nexus doing this to her own people. You've seen your errors. You will fix them, and you will deliver me actual results that differ from the inevitable. My Ashborn and I have other things to attend to. It's time I spent quality time with her.”</p><p>With that, the Head Councilor was gone before they'd even gotten the nerve to turn and try to face them after such an embarrassing failure. The wolf and shark looked to each other then back to the scene, only the shark cursing under her breath, “When and how the fuck did she become like this...”</p><p> </p><p>* * *</p><p>She stood in the main hall of the warehouse, her hands stained with the blood and various lubricants of those who'd apparently fallen before her and Ventus. Her blade was gripped in her left, the right gripping around the augmented, crushed neck of the last of them. She did not show anger. She did not show sadness. The only thing that showed was a look of both satisfaction and fear, refusing to move and face her brother who stood behind her, “I-I...”</p><p>Ventus calmly placed a hand on his once again confused sister's shoulder, gripping it firmly to assure her that he was there for her. He'd witnessed the entire scene, all without his assistance. Something like this could only be linked to her blade. Oddly enough, the blood was not from Vox for the heat and current generated by the electro-blade naturally cauterized any wound or cut made with it. No, the blood came from his sister's pummeling of those mindless souls with her bare fist before finishing them off. Never before had he seen Nexus in action like that. It was almost like a memory flash of the time him and his sister first sparred during their time at the Brood Tower, but this was so much more violent that it left even him in disbelief. So this was the power that every other Alpha but him would possess. Luckily he had no desire for it, but it didn't go without the jealous thought of wishing he could move like his sister had, “Just a nightmare, Vosh. Remember that. Now go lay down and leave Vox here. I'll get to cleaning this all up. It'll be like it never happened. Trust me. You can trust your brother, right?”</p><p>The girl shook with a mix of emotions now as she listened to what her brother said. He was right. This was just a nightmare, just like when she was a pup. She just needed to wake up from it all. That was it. She just need to fall asleep here and wake up in reality. The thought of her bed was intoxicating. She would not make it to her room, finding comfortable solace on the ground.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Friction</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAhabqiaL50">Dawn of a Dark Day</a>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em><b>Chapter 3: Friction</b> </em>
</p><p>If there was one thing that always clawed at the back of his puzzled brain, with its lack of concrete conclusions, images and language, it was that memory of his 'father's'. The failures he'd experienced the past few months in attempting to capture that Ngirrth'luin girl were all pointless, and with each failure came flashbacks of those days that predated the time of Novus City, or so he'd been taught to call it. No, not taught...programmed, more like it. He knew of his origins, of what he was, why he existed, why he was the 'third' Hunter. And the reality was he was merely a host for the memories that could utterly destroy everything the Council had worked to achieve so far. He already knew the 'Truth', but why he'd not gone insane like so many others who found out was beyond him. Was it because he accepted it? Or did it have to do something with the memories he held? Perhaps his demise was delayed. Either way, it all left his mind restless. It'd been more than a week since he'd properly slept. It was as if he was reliving those times his Predecessor did, sleeping with his eyes open, trying to keep watch and stay up in case something unfathomable appeared or occurred.</p><p>He stirred around in his sitting spot near the window ledge. He could hear the sounds of plasma rounds being fired, civilians being gunned down, the sound of a horrific beast that his partner had been synthesizing using augmentation and a 'gift' she received from the Head Councilor herself. He was sure it wasn't a technology or other kind of tool, however. Perhaps it was access to a secret armory? No, they both would have been shown such a thing. He did, however, remember Sophie shivering in a rather constant fashion for awhile after she'd been given said 'gift'. Perhaps it was knowledge. Knowledge that was possibly forbidden. And in this city, knowledge was something no one wanted or needed. It was for their own safety. It's what the Council had been working for, and why they had their 'Agents', their 'Knowledge Inhibitors'. The sounds of weapons firing ceased. It'd gone quiet down below. Now was his chance to get a few minutes of 'sleep' in, whatever one wanted to call it.</p><p>And short lived it was. As soon as he'd managed to finally close his eyes, the mental imagery and sounds of heavy gunfire, chanting and bodies being torn filled the space around him, causing him to curl up slightly in both annoyance and fear of it all. Why did he have to endure through this? Gun fire, explosives, monstrosities and more flooded his small outpost in the room he occupied. He wanted to up and try to fight the hallucinations, but it would be pointless, “They're not real. Nothing around me is real. It's all part of a big hoax!” he'd exclaim as he held his head, clawing at the silver patch of fur that lined around his eye. This patch was proof of his slow decay. Eventually, he'd go mad like the past Hunters, and there would be a Fourth, then a Fifth and so on. He was an expendable yet necessary asset in the workings of this damn city. He didn't want any of this, he just wanted to serve his duty and die peacefully. But no, the hallucinations.</p><p>His eyes shot open, his silver-blue gaze locking onto something in front of him, though it was less something and more someone, “...Father?” he whispered to himself as he continued to lay huddled as he did. This image of the first Hunter, it always confused him, yet it didn't. He knew his memories originated from the mind of a Human, but he always found himself in disbelief when the sight of his 'Father' made itself present. He seemingly knelt down to the pained descendant, staring at him for a few moments before giving a slight smirk and finally dissipating to nothing but the darkness that already occupied his post. Hunter's pupils dilated. The sound of weapons, bodies being thrown and explosions resuming, as if it'd all been happening while he experienced what he did.</p><p>“-unter! Wh-...hell is wron-...!” exclaimed a familiar voice from the entrance of his post. He caught glimpse of a row of sharp white teeth and the mellow glow of the eyes of what he was sure was his demise. He'd finally failed for the last time. He could finally sleep.</p><p> </p><p>* * *</p><p>
  <em>“It's been some time since you've been asleep, Phantasm. Perhaps now would be a good time to wake up from your slumber, resume your purpose. And not the one you wish to fulfill, but the one you truly have to fulfill. Using me. Do not delay it any longer. You can prevent all of this pain from continuing if you follow the path to the Truth. Let your fears guide you. You may stray away from them, but they give you strength, like I did, and will continue to do so if you wake up and do what you were meant to do. Daughter of Vythica, claim your place at her side.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>* * *</p><p>“'The Vorpal'; that was her title. I can only assume so much about our real mother, but if that was her title, then she had to have done something extremely horrible, or extremely well. Either way, it's a bold title. Fitting that it belongs to her, especially after finding this out, Ox,” a thoughtful Ventus would state as he played around with his lighter, though it was clear he was finally out of cigarettes. Funnily enough, he wasn't experiencing any major withdrawal symptoms, except for the occasional light headedness or migraine, “I'm surprised it only took you a couple of months to rebuild your rig, and with improvements.”</p><p>A rather busy Fen-Chi would merely glance over at the Ngirrth'luin before returning his attention back to his multitude of monitors, hammering away heavily yet accurately at his set of three keyboards, “It didn't come without sacrifice, Ven. Your sister's been in a coma for what? Three months now? I don't think you understand how important she is in all of this, especially seeing as her little 'knife' only reacts and works for her. That thing speaks to her. If she were conscious, we could have her carefully communicate with it and attempt to have her relay what she was told. And Molly...shit man, she's blind again! I knew I should've been the one to go set that EMP off near the Lower Levels' main power pla-”</p><p>The tall, athletic Ngirrth'luin grunted with disapproval, “If you would have done the job, you wouldn't be here with us right now working on finding a way to wake my sister up. You wouldn't be on the trail of tracking down Ashir. You wouldn't be the silent presence finally causing this anarchy. You're the ghost in the system, Ox. If you would've set that EMP blast off, you'd be dead because of your implants and augmentations.”</p><p>“That doesn't excuse the fact that I should've taken more precautions with that little operation! Sure, it got us the results we thought we wanted at the time, but now look!” the Fen-Chi exclaimed as he loaded up a surveillance feed of Level 13, their old Level of living, as well as others that showed the mass chaos that had ensued over the short span of just three months, “We wanted to raise a small rebellion against the Upper Levels, Ventus. Not start a revolution. We needed a distraction, not anarchy! The worst part? It's all taking place on the Mid Levels. The Lower Levels are utterly fucking destroyed, and the Upper Levels have been forcefully locked off by the Enforcers. And here we are on Level fucking 6, hiding out in one of the farthest, darkest corners. All I can do is just watch and manipulate from the network, and only to an extent.”</p><p>“What do you mean 'to an exte-”</p><p>“Whoever is in charge of the damn city's network has placed an encryption on it that prevents me from accessing anything that has to do with Levels 1 through 5 and any 'secret' areas long hidden from everyone. I've only managed to bypass the beginning of it, and that's taken nearly a month. And from it we've only gotten that small snippet of information on your mother. She could be dead or missing for all we know, but it's such a small lead. In that time, I could've been helping Molly, but no. My stupid persistence to get to the bottom of this and fix everything--”</p><p>Oxye would be cut off as he felt a small paw place itself on his shoulder, though it was clear that it was for identification reasons as he felt it pat his shoulder up to his neck and face, “Yo, so...what're you stressin' about now, bro?” a soft voiced, once again blind Molly would ask as she slowly moved to lean and rest her head on her brother's shoulder. Neither of the boys would say anything, though Oxye did begin to regret his past decisions more and more, clenching a fist to gently pound down on one of his keyboards. He could still remember when it happened. He should've been the one to go.</p><p> </p><p>* * *</p><p>
  <em>Approximately Three Months ago...</em>
</p><p>As odd as it was to hear, a heavy sigh came from Molly as she walked out of the room Vosh rested in, though it worried her that she'd been asleep for almost a week now. True, they had a bit of a cheap-shot friendship where they constantly threw out insults in order to try and get the other riled up, but she appreciated it. At least Vosh had made an attempt to be friendly with her, however rough it was. Now, seeing her like this on a cot in what she was sure was more than just a really long nap, it began to hit her how much their friendship really meant. It wasn't just a friendship. It was a sister-ship, or whatever. She saw Vosh as an older sister, and she was pretty sure that Vosh felt the same way.</p><p>She slowly closed the metal door behind her, letting the room's adjusted settings go back to the way they were before she'd entered in order to have Vosh rest in a comfortable environment of warm, damp air. She still couldn't get over her discovery of her little 'gills', though. She knew she wasn't from this place and world, but for a mammal to have gills, no matter how subtle and hidden they were, despite whatever their function may be, it was just odd. Sharks, yeah. Amphibious people? Maybe. But what she thought was a mammal all this time? Just weird. The thought of it did bring a smile on her face, however. She may or may not have poked at them for awhile out of curiosity. Clearly it didn't cause any harm, or else Vosh would've been dead or internally injured. She then shook her head, trying to shake off the thought of her friend being hurt any more than she already was.</p><p>Despite the strange amount of grief she felt at the moment, she couldn't help but remain optimistic about what she and the boys had planned for today. Not only had they managed to essentially make themselves a new home within this complex on Level 6, but they'd also managed to recover enough materials to prepare a special 'gift' for the people up above. Her ears twitched and her tail flicked around with excitement as she thought about how'd she be using the thing.</p><p>As she approached the room that both Oxye and Ventus shared as both a 'hub' and living space, she couldn't help but do a little skip and dance through the doorway and pretend to pose in some cheesy, heroic fashion. The two males didn't give much of a reaction beyond single raised brows and a slightly concerned look on their face as she repeated the action, this time placing her visor-like goggles over her eyes, “Armstech Molly reporting and ready to kick this operation off, nerds!”</p><p>As much as her brother wanted to forget what she just said and wonder how he was related to her, he couldn't help but burst into laughter and appreciate her enthusiasm. Sure, she'd done similar stuff before when it came to her games she role played on with friends, but that was online gaming. This was something rather serious, yet she was treating it as if she was getting ready to take on a game challenge with some over leveled, over powered character she'd grinded with. His laughing slowly ceased as he moved over towards his little runt of a sister, despite his stature not being much more. He motioned her to turn around so that her backpack doubling as an advanced power cell faced towards him. With a few quick tapping and dragging motions around the perimeter of the pack, he caused the unit to open up with a small whir and hiss, revealing the deceptively large storage unit and small, but powerful energy cell he'd created, “I hope you know that this isn't just some game, Molly. This is something really serious. If Vosh wasn't still KO'd I'd ask her to do this because what you're going to be 'delivering' is something potentially dangerous to you,” he'd explain as he placed the object into his sister's pack, closing the unit soon after and moving his paws towards the cell, “Also, I'm afraid of heights. Think I might have vertigo after all, and because of that you're the only other viable flyer we have.”</p><p>“Y'know, you say that as if I wasn't already a viable flyer. You remember back when we first found Ashir? I saved both my and Vosh's butts from becoming splatter marks on the surface. I mean...yeah, her board is better now than it was then, but still. I can fly perfectly freakin' fine,” she stated with a nod of self approval and crossed arms, “What're you doin' back there anyways? I can feel you playing with my power sup-” she froze up for a minute as she felt her vision go black for a bit. Obviously whatever Oxye was doing was pretty delicate and potentially harmful to her vision if he didn't do it right. Thankfully he had, causing her vision to return to normal. So what's why he had her wear her 'backpack' at all times, and why he'd designed it to be weather and waterproof.</p><p>“...there! That should do it. New power cell with a double-backup cell system. No way I'm risking anything with this. Especially because you're going to be using these bad girls,” he said as he closed her backpack unit and turned to kneel down and open a rather heavy-looking case. The case also caused a hissing to occur, as if keeping whatever was in them in pristine condition until he was able to finally reveal them, “Say hello to your new favorite toys, the Mollyfoils Mk3.”</p><p>“What happened to the Mk2-”</p><p>“I scrapped them. They were becoming a pain to work with, not to mention outdated. In other words, bulkier than your Mk1's and incompatible with your holo-bracelet's coding. They would've been great beyond that. Faster, more powerful bursts of speed, better control, hovering, you name it.”</p><p>“Sounds like they worked just fine, though. I don't think you had to scrap'em entirely,” a somewhat confused Molly commented as she unhooked her old Mk1's from her pack via ejection. She caught the old units and laid them on a table near Ventus, whom was strangely not involved in this little conversation between her and Oxye, but he had to have a reason. Her attention then returned to her brother, “Plus, I think you just don't like not having things done in threes, nerd.”</p><p>“Ah, you're right. It's true. My obsession with the number three. But, believe it or not, that wasn't the reasoning behind the Mk3's. They are an overall improvement upon the Mk1's. Sleeker, lighter, sturdier, etcetera. Not to remind you that they also have all of those features I was working on with the Mk2's. Now turn back around, I gotta install these into your pack. Oh, and shut off your bracelet for the time being. Gotta calibrate them on start-up or else you'll be rocking Mk1 software with Mk3 tech. In other words, catastrophe.”</p><p>Obviously Molly had gotten completely lost in whatever Oxye was attempting to explain, resorting to making mocking faces and mouth movements as he did so. She was even about to move one of her paws over to switch her holo-bracelet back on, but was stopped as her brother grabbed the arms sneaking in that direction and yanked it down to her side, “Rude...”</p><p>“It's your airborne funeral if you don't let me finish. And believe me, I don't need you dying, let alone getting hurt. Just sit still. I'm almost done,” he stated quite sternly as he continued with his business. The sounds of the new wings being slid and locked into the slots on Molly's pack echoed through the room, even causing Ventus's ears to perk up at the noise, something he'd never heard before, or at least in quite awhile. Soon after, Oxye pulled a coiled up cable from the underside of his holo-brace, hooking it up to the correct port in his sister's pack, proceeding to upload and install the new Mollyfoil Mk3 software.</p><p>Meanwhile, the tall Ngirrth'luin that was Ventus let out a sigh of relief as he realized what the noise was, almost as if he'd drifted off into a bit of a daydream, though with his eyes open. It wasn't often that he was caught off guard, thanks to his previous engagements as a mercenary the first few years he and Vosh lived in Novus City, though with the amount of troubling things he'd been discovering, seeing and hearing as of late, he began to question if the city was even named that after all. All of this combined with his thinking upon what they used to call their mother, 'the Vorpal', caused him to think more in-depth than he'd ever done before. It wasn't exactly healthy for him, either. The symptoms of the madness the Ngirrth'luin culture always spoke of began to make themselves apparent in his train of thought, seeing flashing images of his friends either dead or hurt, his twin sister corrupted, and Ashir...he didn't even want to think of what he apparently saw. He knew, however, that these images were all just based on his own dwindling logic. Had he finally been exposed to that 'knowledge' that was truly forbidden? How did he even manage to fumble upon knowing about the existence of such a thing? Was it innate? He shook his head. All of this was ruining him slowly.</p><p>However, he had noticed a very slow, progressive degradation of his sanity after his and Vosh's encounter with their Caretaker. In fact, he'd began to see signs of whatever had happened to her among others around the city. But how could they? As far as he knew or assumed, it could only happen to Ngirrth'luin. Unless it was some disease, which he highly doubted. Everything was happening so fast. At this rate, he'd probably end up just like Qi'ara. He snarled a bit as he continued to think upon all this, trying to bring his train of thought back onto a logical plane.</p><p>Now that he'd thought of it with a bit more of a level head, he had saw signs of whatever happened to Qi'ara among other citizens of Novus City. Was he repeating himself? Either way, he was sure of it now. Many had shown signs of whatever this was...enlarged teeth, claws, bloodshot eyes, you name it. And to make it all the more strange, it was more apparent the higher up he and the rest of the crew ascended up to Level 6. And now here? He'd heard more sirens, loudspeakers and alerts to 'coded' situations than he'd ever heard living down in the apparent slums. Hell, half of the 'codes' he didn't recognize. It really did beg the question, “...what the hell is actually happening here?”</p><p>He straightened himself out, only to lean on the sill of the window and look out over the metro of Level 6. Strangely enough, the streets were pretty clear of any pedestrians when they'd first arrived. In fact, the level itself seemed rather empty. Either the citizens were in hiding or were afraid to be out too long. But what would they have to hide from? Only one more thing managed to lowly grumble from the maw of Ventus, “We're not the only ones, are we Vosh?”</p><p>“Ahah! It's done! There, power up your holo-bracelet Moni-”</p><p>“Don't. Say it. I will seriously end you. I know how to make a static shock and short out your implants, nerd! At least temporarily...”</p><p>“You don't think I've fixed that iss-”</p><p>“A GIRL CAN DREAM, DAMN IT!”</p><p>If there was one thing that could always bring him back to reality, it was definitely the lively chatter between Oxye and Molly. Reminded him a lot of his own banter with Vosh. He really wished she'd wake up already, though. This wasn't natural. Maybe it was a mistake having her come along with him that day, that damned blade...</p><p>“Yooo~, these feel WAY better than the Mk1's!” an ecstatic Molly exclaimed as she powered on her new toys, the new sound of them filling the room before turning to a low, subtle hum. These were definitely an all around improvement. The best part? No more having to lean slightly forward to support the weight. She didn't think it was possible, but her brother had finally managed to fix that issue alone, plus some, “Okay, so, I got the new wings. Now what? Does it have'ta do with this...thing?” she asked as she moved over to poke at the 'little black box' that she'd placed on the table.</p><p>The older Fen-Chi gave a nod as he too moved over towards the table, a wave of his paw over the edge of the supposed tabletop bringing up a holo-keyboard as well as a projection that layered itself over the surface, a perfect replica of Level 6 based on any maps and information he'd managed to steal from that database he temporarily managed to slice into. In all honesty, however, he was sure this wasn't even half of what even existed on this floor. With the vast network of service tunnels and access alleys &amp; roads that existed on Level 13, he was sure that however small Level 6 looked in comparison was much, much bigger than it looked. Most notable of the map, and what he proceeded to point at, was the large 'hub' that was placed dead center on Level 6, “This is your target. Our target.”</p><p>“Okay...but what about it? Looks kinda like a maintenance or power center. I don't see what we could do to that kinda thing. Unless that thing you made is like...special or somethin'. Is it a bomb? I don't wanna deliver a bomb. What am I, a terrorist? Do I look like some kinda strike fighter?” she asked as she spread her arms out along with her wings to do a bad air assault vehicle impression.</p><p>The cybertech genius looked at his sister with one of the most unamused expressions he'd ever given in a long while, though it didn't last long as he knew it was essential to remain at least a bit optimistic with this risky operation, “That 'thing' is a specially cased EMP charge, Molly. So yes, sort've like a bomb. But instead of a violent explosion, it'll send out a huge burst of electro-magnetic energy to basically fry the power system for at least a temporary amount of time, not only disabling the Upper Levels' security and grasp on Level 6 via electronics and tech, but also allowing me to bypass this damned security wall they put up. 'Oh, but what about our power?'. Already have that covered. Got a backup power system already in place. Like a game of holo-chess, except...y'know, important.”</p><p>Molly had once again gotten a bit lost in whatever he brother was explaining, merely nodding in passive agreement to everything he said as she played around with her holo-bracelet's new software and continued poking at the EMP charge, “Um...okay, but where and how am I gonna to be 'deliverin'' this thing?”</p><p>“Right here, near the top of this building. There should be a hatch that opens up to an emergency ladder shaft that you should be able to glide down without any issue, literally drop the package somewhere after you arm it, then get the hell out. The switch itself is a one-time, button activated timer. The timer is also encrypted so that it can't be stopped unless someone has some god-send of a counter. Anyways, it's an EMP charge that'll create a gigantic-”</p><p>“Electric-splosion, yeah, I know.”</p><p>“That...and because of that, it can potentially fry your implants and cybernetics. That's why I wish Vosh was awake for this. She wouldn't be risking all too much, and maybe we could even fry out that blade of hers and fix whatever the hell it's doing to her...”</p><p>At this point, it'd gone quiet as both of the Fen-Chi's heard the footsteps of their booted friend move over towards them, slightly slamming his paws down onto the projector table, obviously a bit upset about the comment, “She'd still be risking her life. She'd be no more safe than your sister, Ox. In fact, it'd be riskier, because she doesn't have the sky to travel by. She'd have to travel by street, then break into the complex. And if that was the case, I'd be there with her. Unfortunately she's still in that damn coma and none of us, especially me, can do anything about it.” He then pushed himself up from the tabletop, almost sliding it forward a bit, still trying to hold in his frustrations that continued to build on top of his already existing mental degredation. In other words, it was becoming too much. He needed his sister awake now.</p><p>“Okay...look Ven, you think I'm okay with just sending Molly? And I see Vosh as a sister of sorts, so do you really think that I'd send her in without any second thoughts? This is a tough thing to plan out and execute as is. Just...ugh, look, Molly's going. Case closed. Happy?”</p><p>“Happy? Happy?! Are you serious? You're sending your only sister on a risky mission to fry out a power station. Not only that, but just like you see Vosh as a sister, I see Molly as a younger sister as well. It's...I dunno.”</p><p>“I know, I know, but hey. Remember, I planned this out from start to finish. And the way this ends up finishing is with Molly being safely out of harm's way and on a flight path back here without any interference, because with what's going to happen I'm sure any and all citizens apparently hiding will come out to basically start rioting. Breaking into places and whatnot. It'll be interesting. Meanwhile I'll be getting what I need out of it, then we'll find a way to worm our way up to Level 5...as weird and possibly regretful that may turn out to be. Honestly, no one really knows how stuff is handled up there nor how it's structured. The only thing I have on file is the image of some half-destroyed structure. Too dark to really get a grasp on what it is. It's irrelevant though.”</p><p>The room went quiet once more, only to be interrupted by the sound of Molly playing around with the pitch and yaw of her wings, the whirs and clicks echoing slightly, “So...now that the lovely couple is done arguin', can I go do this thing? Can't get it done just standin' around here, y'know,” she'd comment as she walked towards the large window and began to push it open, a sudden rush of cool, filtered air rushing into the room, “I'm off to start some anarchy, boys. I'll be back before dinner!”</p><p>Before the two shocked males could even react, Molly had already reverse dived off the ledge of the window, beginning her rapid descent down through the air, just feet away from the wall of the complex they were holed up on top in. For a moment, she felt a bit of peace, nothing to worry about except the perfect moment to fully activate her Mollyfoils and thrust herself through the air with a powerful thrust from the engines. Her eyes were closed, nothing but the cool, filtered air rushing against her soft fur. Before long, however, she'd hear her holo-bracelet ping, giving alert that she'd reached a proper speed to fully deploy and take off.</p><p>With that being said, her eyes shot open as she felt her wings come online fully, the engines beginning to hum loudly as they began to thrust her down her flight more rapidly than she already was, the sound of each individual wing whirring and locking into proper position before, finally, she swooped down towards the metallic streets below, only to rapidly throttle back up after performing one of the riskiest maneuvers she'd ever done. Her heart was left racing as she leveled her flight path out, but not out of fear, out of sheer enjoyment of the model wings. The loud hum that emitted from the engines themselves began to calm down, till nothing but a faint whisper could be heard, though it was apparent that the power they continued to put out was no less than before. As fast as she'd throttled down and up was as fast as she was traveling now on her current path.</p><p>She could hardly see now, however. And not because of an issue with her assisted sight, but rather the tears that'd began to form from the wind whipping against her face. So without hesitation, the Fen-Chi girl grabbed hold of her visor-like goggles from the top of her beanie and placed them over her eyes, tears still prevalent in her eyes, though they'd soon dry up as she continued her flight, sticking high above the streets, but not too much higher than the ledges of the buildings that she passed in a blur of speed. At this altitude, citizens wouldn't be able to tell her from enforcement, nor would enforcement be able to tell her from any other stray vehicle that might be making a quick trip somewhere.</p><p>“Right, so I'm headed directly for the center of the, whoa-!” she'd cut herself off as she rapidly slowed herself down before ramming head first into a building that obviously wasn't on the map Oxye had shown her, “Damn it, now I really have'ta go up, don't I?” she growled as she began her ascent up to fly above the massive metro that was Level 6. It amazed her, though. Even though Level 13, her home, was obviously bigger, Level 6 just seemed so much more massive due to the layers of buildings, streets and walkways, “So this is where the fortunate live, huh? Wish I coulda experienced it...”</p><p>She'd hover in the air above the cityscape for a few minutes, taking in the sight of the low-glowing lights, dim holosigns and, most importantly, the sight of the gigantic tower that controlled the power plant for Level 6. Her target. After a few more moments she'd let out a heavy sigh, giving up the strange serenity she felt from just a simple sight to proceed towards the tower.</p><p>There was something that began to scratch at the back of her mind, however. She remembered from one of the few times that she and Vosh had talked on a close and personal level that her Ngirrth'luin friend had mentioned something about the arrangement of her old home, and something about a giant tower being situated near the center. Now that she thought back on it, the higher up they traveled starting from Level 10, the cityscapes began to slowly remind her of that arrangement, though Level 6 was definitely the first she noticed to have a 'tower' of some sorts, though she was sure that this tower was nothing more than a control center.</p><p>
  <em>'Yeah...we grew up in that tower. I honestly hated it. And from how they treated Ventus, mainly the other little brats that we grew up with...yeah, I'm sure he hated it too. Scars on the both of us to prove it. Damn culture was...cult-like.'</em>
</p><p>The words echoed in the back of Molly's head as she continued to proceed at a rapid pace towards the tower, it becoming much larger every few seconds until she finally arrived at the midpoint of the gigantic structure. There was no other way to go but up, and so she went, checking her holo-bracelet to monitor the status of her power cells and the 'little black box' she'd placed in the storage compartment of her pack.</p><p>
  <em>'Well, yeah. Of course we stayed there the entire time. Where else could we have gone? We didn't have much of a choice. Each time either of us tried to run we'd just get sent back. And every time we tried to avoid something, we'd get punished, one of us more than the other...I guess you could call it a love/hate relationship with the Overseers. Honestly, most of their efforts were to ensure Ventus and I grew up to be proper Alpha-types, to basically prove that we could live up to our mom's name, which we were never fuckin' told, but hey, who am I to complain? I had Qi'ara. She was my mom. And she'll always continue to be, no matter how...heartbroken...she was, the day that we left R'lyeh. I wish I could see her at least one last time. Maybe even visit the Brood Tower. But knowing how things go, the entire roster of Overseers is probably different by now. I'd just be given looks, and end up doing something regretful. But nothing as regretful as letting you get AHOLD OF MY CHIPS, NOW GIVE THEM BACK, RUNT!'</em>
</p><p>Vosh's words continued to echo in her head, causing her to chuckle as she approached the top of the control tower. The hatch was there like her brainy brother had told her. This place wasn't empty, though. She could hear voices down below. This was definitely going to be a lot more difficult than they'd planned on. Maybe she could just drop the charge down through the hatch? No, that'd cause too much noise. They'd find some way to disable it before it went off, “Doesn't matter, I needa go in. I'll...fight someone, if I have to. Yeah, I'll bite'em. Then I can 1-2-Slash'em with my...claws...” she'd gotten herself a bit hyped up, almost mimicking the motions of some character she created on one of her games, until she realized how much of a threat she didn't pose, just from looking at her dull nubs she called her claws, “...guess it's a stealth op, then.”</p><p>And a horrible stealth op it started out as. Almost immediately after opening the hatch to the emergency ladder, she felt a rush of air get sucked into the tunnel, signifying that this place wasn't only just some high-tech, important control center, but a closed environment. With that in mind, she began to hover her way down the hatch slowly, closing it behind her and trying not to make too much noise, minus the obnoxiously loud hiss. Oxye had pretty much explained that it needed to stay open, but if she was going to get this done the right way, she needed it closed. The air rushing in through the tunnel was way too loud and would draw too much attention.</p><p>Taking a look around, it was apparent that she had a bit of moving to do. This was a basic hallway. The voices she'd heard sounded a bit farther down, probably in the room the charge needed to be placed. With that in mind, the Fen-Chi began making her way through the complex, keeping her bare footsteps light and quiet, even setting her Mollyfoils to standby as to not have them make too loud of a hum while she snuck around, weaving through the many hallways and stairwells until she finally reached the appropriate floor, “That voice...”</p><p>The familiar voice she heard wasn't a complete mystery. In fact, the tone she used only caused her to snarl, albeit weakly. She stayed at her current location in the stairwell, only finally moving in when she thought the voice finally died out and that damned shark left, but that was a horrible assumption for her to make as she rounded the corner and spotted her through the window to some weird room that she thought was supposed to be the control room, “What the hell?” she whispered to herself as she examined the inside from the out, her eyes growing wide at the sight of what had turned out to be a lab of sorts.</p><p>Inside of that lab she confirmed her suspicions of that thresher shark, and it was made clear to her what her name was as her sight snapped between different instruments that lined the top of a counter near the window she looked through, “SoFi? Weird name...probably some kinda nerd like Oxye, heh,” she commented as she began to slowly inch her way down the hallway, her vision still locked on whatever was going on inside of the lab, more specifically on what the shark was doing.</p><p>“Well if I can't keep the little one for myself, and there's no way for us to keep track of my Voshy, then I guess I'll have to be satisfied with you, hm? Oh, don't give me that look. I've taken good care of you, haven't I? Just because I took a small DNA sample from you to make that thing we used down there doesn't mean I'm using you~. I just had direct orders from your best friend, the Head Councilor...stop growling. You and I both know this is what's best for everyone here. R'lyeh isn't dead. Corrupt, maybe. Driven to madness, definitely. It's why you all migrated here. Of course, we have to keep you all here on this Level. Any higher and you'd all try revolting. Any lower and you'd all try integrating with the normal citizens of Novus City. In fact...I think some of you already have. Yeah, you have, haven't you?” the voice of the thresher shark, clad in a tattered lab coat and street clothing, a heavy-looking, prototype-like weapon strapped onto her back said as she seemed to be having a one sided conversation with something or someone, “It's obvious that you so many of you have. And it's up to those like me and Hunter, the Head Councilor's Agents, to help pick them out and either take them in or...well, you get the point. Your little culture's the cause of a lot of the troubles here, you know. This 'madness' we've been seeing. The personification of your 'nightmares'. The Ngirrth'luin were never meant to breed and interact with the natural races that exist in this world, Qi'ara. And as much as I'm sure you wished it was possible, just so you have some kind of excuse to rush to your favorite little Ngirrth'luin's side, it isn't possible~. Now sit still. I need another small sample to prepare my latest project for finalization. And don't fuss, or I'll use the scalpels again~.”</p><p>The voice and switching between official and playful tonation honestly sickened Molly, and the name she heard, Qi'ara...it was familiar. She just couldn't place a finger on it. The mission still stood, however. She needed to place the EMP charge down quick before someone or something finally picked up on her presence in this place. And after looking in at SoFi's lab as long as she had, she had no intention to want to stay and continue listening in on whatever weird, scientific stuff the crazy woman was talking about. DNA samples? What ever could she need that for? She shook her head as she approached the door to the shark's lab, taking a few deep breaths as she punched in a few commands on the holo-cube that projected from her holo-bracelet, prompting her pack to open and eject the EMP charge from her pack's storage unit, letting it fall down into her small paw before she brought it in front of her, “Hopefully this thing'll work, Ox. I'm already late for dinner.”</p><p>She heard a booming laugh from that shark, the sound of metal utensils and a sink running echoing through the lab. Maybe she lost it and ended up doing something a bit more extreme than she said she was. She didn't put it past her, although SoFi did seem much more sane than most people. Just...on a strange level. Maybe she was so confident in herself that she didn't mind sounding insane every so often. Pointless thinking, though. Molly finally took one final breath and slowly pushed open the door to the entrance to the lab, slowly sliding herself and the unboxed charge into the room. She was small enough. There was no way she'd get caught-, “And what exactly do we have here? A little girl come to visit me~?” were the words that came from above her, causing the Fen-Chi to freeze up a bit as her paw reached towards the switch, one of her small digits pressed against it, ready to activate the package but unable to finish the job as she felt a cold, slender hand reach around the other arm, “I thought I specifically told the guards no visitors today. Especially visits from cuteys like you~. Hm...what'd you bring with you?”</p><p>Molly's heart was racing. She was caught, and by the same shark that'd locked her up in her damn dungeon. But something threw her off. Did she not recognize the great and powerful mastermind that was Molly? The queen of the virtual gaming world? Right...gaming world. This shark wasn't that type of woman. Her digit was already pressed firmly down on the switch, only the removal of it to set off the one-time encryption activated thingy...whatever it was supposed to be. Too many words to think about right now while the shark had a grip on her scrawny, little arm.</p><p>“Are you going to answer me, runt? You're obviously not from this Level, so tell me who you are and where you're from and I MIGHT think about either sending you back there or keep you like my second favorite Ngirrth'luin over there. Not for anything like I use her for, though. Just strictly cuddles, care and kisses. And the occasional tinkering with your eyes, because that's some rather interesting tech you got in them. Familiar too...” she continued to comment as she yanked Molly up a bit more, examining her eyes with a toothy smile, “You're HIS sister, aren't you~?”</p><p>She didn't know what else to do at this point. In a panic, she let her finger off of the switch, causing a soft beep to emit from the EMP charge, the timer on it beginning to count down from 120 seconds, “Two minutes?”</p><p>“Two minutes?” Sophie repeated as she let go of the Fen-Chi, moving to grab and examine the charge, only to return her sight to Molly with a frustrated frown and low hiss. But by the time she went to reach and grab hold of the small girl, she had already scurried and slipped out of her lab, leaving her to try and figure out how to deactivate the device Molly had left, “You little shit!”</p><p>She didn't have much time now. If SoFi was a scientist like she'd made herself out to be, then there was no doubt that she'd figure out a way to deactivate the charge and come after her here soon. The Fen-Chi scurried along on all fours as fast as she could up the stairwell that now seemed a lot larger than it was before, “Fuckin' hell...” she muttered before continuing her ascent up the stairs, the cold metal steps feeling as if they were burning her paw pads. An alert pinged from her holo-bracelet as she hurried towards the ladder tunnel that led up to the hatch she'd come in from, signifying that the charge had only a minute left before detonation. Without any more hesitation, Molly took her Mollyfoils off of standby and began throttling herself up to the hatch, though she thought she heard something, or someone, tailing her not too far off.</p><p>As she approached the hatch, she placed her small arms over her head, forcefully pressing open the hatch that she'd left partially open so that it didn't lock. She was surprised the small draft that still flowed through didn't catch anyone else's attention, but that was irrelevant. She was free now-, “No you don't, you brat!” screamed the voice of that damn shark once more from below her. How the hell could some nerd move so fast up that ladder? Clearly she had other hobbies, and apparently one of them involved carrying EMP explosives around in her arm.</p><p>“You forgot this! With love, from your favorite fucking shark!” she exclaimed as she threw the charge towards the already in-flight Molly, it clearly falling short as it began to descend down over the metro. Why had everything gone so wrong? Molly was freaking out at this point. This was supposed to be a simple mission. Something from a tutorial level, right? Wrong. One last alert from her holo-bracelet pinged as she throttled her Mollyfoil's engine's one last time, attempting to put as much distance between herself and the charge as she could. There was a small tracker of where the charge was headed, and it was clearly about to make heavy impact with the streets below, herself still not clear of the blast radius.</p><p>“Game over...” she mumbled with a small volume of tears forming as she once more throttled her wings, only catching sight of a familiar device jetting over towards her from their little headquarters on top of that complex in the far corner of Level 6, the bright green burning jets burning as they started moving towards her location, “But it can't be...V-?” She felt herself get cut off by the sudden blast of cold air filled with crackles of disruptive energy surround her, causing her wings to slowly power down as she continued to gently glide across the sky of Level 6 until she felt herself begin to descend, her vision slowly blacking out until she felt something spark on each side of her head, the glow in her eyes gone, as well as the various amounts of lighting that lined her clothes. She only felt the hold of a familiar body before she muttered one last thing before blacking out entirely, “I tried, coach...”</p><p>“You did good, private. Just...take a nap. We both need the rest, right?”</p><p>Meanwhile, back at the now blacked out control tower, and apparent lab station for the shark Agent, the sounds of auxiliary powered alarms filled the nearby streets and buildings, emergency lights flashing as they prompted any and all who were authorized to occupy the tower to either remain inside or to head to it as soon as possible. A clearly frustrated thresher shark stomped her way down the stairwells and through the hallways back to her lab, throwing herself into an uncontrollable tantrum as she angrily tossed and shoved much of her lab equipment through out the room, though she made sure to at least avoid keeping any of it from flying towards her Ngirrth'luin subject, “Are you happy, Qi'ara? The thing you hoped for happened! Power's down throughout the entire grid of Level 6, and now...you, you, you! You knew this was going to happen, didn't you? They somehow figured out that this place, this damn...fucking tower! This place is the center of control for the rest of the city's grid. So guess what? The entire damn city's going to be blacked out, except up there!” she exclaimed as she angrily pointed upwards, a finger placed under the Ngirrth'luin's chin, attempting to force her to look in the shark's now blacked out eyes, “That's what you did in that little bit of free time I gave you, isn't it? You let down the network's security just long enough for that little brat's brother to gain access to the information he needed, then closed it. You're sneaky, you know that? All of you are. It's why I adore you all so much, but also wish I could choose which ones live and which ones perish, but no. Head Councilor Vythica wants to 'save' you and your damn people. You were all one of the biggest mistakes of a damn race to emerge in R'lyeh. Mammalian R'lyehians make no damn sense! Neither does your Great One!”</p><p>“And guess what else, Qi'ara. Now that the power's down, your fucking people are free to roam Level 6 and possibly the others without consequence from the Enforcers. Left only to their own self-destructive behaviors, habits and now us. The Agents. Now we have to clean up this mess from the dark and make it seem as if it was nothing more than some routine maintenance. But how, Qi'ara? How? Nothing like this has ever happened before! People down below are going to think the city is falling apart, especially with the sight of your fellow Ngirrth'luins roaming freely now! You know what that means? Anarachy, Qi'ara! Madness, insanity and anarchy!”</p><p>The Ngirrth'luin subject that was revealed to be the real Qi'ara sat there quietly, her hair hanging to the side of her head as it gently swayed with the outside draft rolling in, her robe in tatters. She had no reason to say anything. Sophie was right. This is what she wanted. Why? Because just like how the twins had their freedom taken from them when they all lived in R'lyeh, so had she had it taken here. She took a deep breath, turning her head away as she gave one comment before going quiet once more, “You call this place Novus City. But you're wrong. Vythica is wrong for attempting to keep this ruse going for so long. The twins and their friends aren't the true enemy here. Neither are the Ngirrth'luin. The true enemy is the blade that should never have been given to my dau-...Vosh. That should be your target. If New R'lyeh is ever to rise appropriately, that spirit that occupies the small weapon must be exorcised from this world. The Ngirrth'luin can live with the others. They just need a chance. Remember, we're all R'lyehian here, Sophie. You included. Don't deny your roots.”</p><p>“...I've had enough of your supposed 'wisdom', Qi'ara,” Sophie stated with a twitching eyelid, reaching for her weapon that rested on her back, using the sling to bring it to her front, “We'll let science and survival instincts determine the fate of your people, not mine. I can already hear the mad ones. Don't you deny it either. The plans for this new world are ruined. I hope you're happy.”</p><p>As the scientist-garbed shark made her way out of the lab, leaving the Ngirrth'luin behind, she merely bumped shoulders with her lupine partner that had already made his way up to her lab, leaning against the wall in anticipation of his female companion, following her down and out of the tower while they conversed, “You know this is your fault for not just locking her up, right fish brains?”</p><p>“Shut up. We have a nest to set up near the main emergency lift. Gather whatever Enforcers you can. Have them set up camp on either side of the lift. We'll be up top picking off the obvious ones. It's about time my trigger finger got some action again.”</p><p>“You say that as if you've always been the 'talk now, shoot later' type.”</p><p>“I was, up until now. You know, I wish you were more like your father sometimes, Hunter. Especially when it comes to stuff like this.”</p><p>“Because he's not my father. Stop bringing that shit up. If I was allowed to, I'd off myself to end this whole cycle now. But apparently that'll never happen. You and I are the only Agent pair to be in service as long as we have. That's saying something. We're doing something right.”</p><p>“Right...whatever. This isn't about purity anymore. This is about getting the city back to a livable state. With all these potential lunatics loose, we've got our hands full. I'm not even sure this is the only way they know of when it comes to travel between Levels. Hell, they probably know of other ways. I mean, I've heard stories about a select few leaving Level 6 to some tunnel network even we don't have mapped. Something about a meeting of 'followers of the one reborn'. Think they might be talking about you, hardass?”</p><p>“...shut up. Focus on where we're going.”</p><p>“Aww, did I strike a nerve? The place is like ten minutes away by foot. I'm sure we could talk about something between now and then, right~?”</p><p>“No. Now shut up and act like an Agent for once, will you? I seriously have to remind myself why you were selected sometimes...”</p><p> </p><p>* * *</p><p>“Wake the hell up, damn it! This isn't the time to fucking nap! There's more of them than we thought, you fuck!” exclaimed the familiar voice of his partner as she shook him violently from his sleep before grabbing her rifle once more and slamming the heavy door to their post before setting up a sniping position on the ledge of the now shattered window, “Grab one of the prototypes. My little toy's gonna need some back up. You know how to work a rifle, right? It should be second nature to you.”</p><p>Hunter simply nodded with a groan as he came back to his senses, reaching for one of the rifles and quickly moving to position himself on the overlook, almost freezing for a moment as he realized what she meant by 'toy', “...you spliced another? You're insane.”</p><p>“Not insane enough. At least this one is trained and can cohesively speak.”</p><p>“Qi'ara again? Version 2?”</p><p>“Nope, Qi'LARA. Slight difference, similar appearance. Whole new mind.”</p><p>“You're terrible.”</p><p>As subjective as the statement of calling someone 'terrible' was, Hunter was not too far off. The sounds of the beast-like creature he'd been hearing while he was having his moment had turned out to be another splicing subject courtesy of his possibly mad scientist and markswoman partner. Something like this shouldn't even have been made again after the first one. He was sort've glad the twins had killed off the first one. Seeing this bestial, corrupt looking monstrosity made to mimic the appearance and behavior of the twin's Caretaker in order to fight a psychological war with them in an attempt to simply bring them in for whatever the Head Councilor wanted...maybe everything really was getting out of hand. Almost as if history was going to begin repeating itself, but on a much smaller, yet similarly destructive manner.</p><p>In any case, the monstrous subject dubbed 'Qi'lara' had obviously been at work for a bit, possibly called from Sophie's second lab in a moment of desperation. Bodies of not only the obviously maddened Ngirrth'luin littered the streets, but the sight of innocent ones also piled around, some of which a few surviving younglings attempted to drag their injured parents or guardians who'd put their lives at risk to protect them to safety, “The way they're trying to protect the pups...Sophie, why are we doing this?” Hunter asked as he looked over at his partner, lowering and setting his weapon aside.</p><p>However, the thresher shark did not do the same, taking aim at the latest target and victim of the spliced beast that had been tossed in the air, a single, powerful rail-like shot firing from the prototype rail-sniper Sophie had managed to dig up the design of from some old, hidden blueprints, essentially splitting the body of the maddened target clean in half, no blood or flesh sent flying as the shot cauterized the two halves, “...because it's what we're told to do, Hunter. Obey...or die...”</p><p>“This is wrong, though. I mean, I'm all for keeping everything like it's supposed to be, but...now that I'm seeing these people, they're no different than any others. They're oppressed and kept hidden. Why? Because the Head Councilor and the other Councilors are afraid of having them revealed. It's fear of what they're unsure of what could happen. But we've already seen it, haven't we? The slums are the only place filled with the 'natural blooded', hybrid or not. These mid-levels are their home, whether they're integrated or continued to hide.”</p><p>The nest they set up as well as the streets below went silent for a few moments. It all finally died down. Any remaining survivors had cleared their way out of the area to either nearby alleys or back to their homes to continue living in fear of those who they now saw as tyrants. Something caught the attention of Sophie's second monstrosity, however. Before long, it charged on all fours behind a building that neither of the Agents could get a clear shot on whatever it was headed towards. On top of it all, they could hear footsteps behind them in the hall way that led to the door of their post. With that in mind, their attention split between the two points, Sophie focused on trying to keep watch over the actions of her pet, while Hunter drew out one of his plasma pistols, fully charged, safety off and aimed directly at the door.</p><p>A screech emanated from behind the build the beast had ran off to hunt whatever it saw as a target, though the screech hadn't come from it, leaving both Sophie and Hunter confused, drawing his attention from the door to look out of the shattered window, though his sidearm would remain aimed where it was before, “That didn't sound like your pet, Sophie. You don't think-”</p><p>“...it can't be, though-”</p><p>Before either of them could even finish their comments, the sound of three quick pings could be heard behind the door Hunter was still deliberately aimed at, followed by the sudden blast of what was obviously a siege charge plastered outside of their post going off, though it wasn't on the door like the Agents had anticipated. Instead it was to the side of it, blasting a large hole in the metallic wall, a concussive blast of a noise filling the room and leaving the two Agents dazed and deafened while the sight of a familiar Ngirrth'luin stepped through the hole, a medium-sized, military grade laser-rifle pointed up and aiming between the two Agents before he finally moved in to disarm them while they were still vulnerable. A heavy scarf and cargo pants were the two most noticeable features of his guise before he pulled the mouth accessory down from his muzzle, revealing that it was indeed Ventus, garbed in his old mercenary gear, “Stay quiet and stay down. I'm not here for you two. Shit's a lot bigger than we initially thought. And by we, I mean me, Ox and you two, I'm sure.”</p><p>A still dazed Hunter growled a bit, but from what he'd seen these past few hours, he knew his old target was right, “Could've fucking knocked, asshole. Might've only-”</p><p>“I said shut it, Agent. Look outside like your little partner here. Maybe she finally realizes it, too.”</p><p>“...is that...Voshy?” she asked in a bit of disbelief as she tried to examine the figure that walked out from behind the building, clearly dragging the body of what was supposed to be here improved subject with ease. Something was clearly off, however, “What's that in her hand?”</p><p>“Animus, her blade we made the mistake of bringing with us from R'lyeh. And that isn't my sister...at least not in spirit. There's something inhabiting that thing, and it's either controlling or manipulating her to do this. You think the body count here is horrific? You don't know the half of it. That thing, it called itself 'Nexus'. It thinks it's a martyr, leading Vosh on a path of 'purification' in order to appeal to our mother. It primarily targets any that have obvious signs of madness, but has also murdered others who get in the way, accidental or on purpose,” Ventus explained as he sniffled a bit, “I'm only gonna say this once, and I can't believe I am. We need to work together. Oxye finally managed to get past the encrypted network security. He has eyes anywhere in the Upper Levels, except for Level 1. His sister's blind, no thanks to you, SoFi. Vosh is on a rampage. I have no options left.”</p><p>“How'd you even-urgh...manage to find us?” a confused Sophie asked as she slowly slung her weapon over her shoulder.</p><p>After a moment, the communicator she wore around her neck that also doubled as an accessory of sorts crackled on, the sound of a familiar Fen-Chi's voice feeding through the speaker, “A true magician never reveals their greatest secrets...or at least I think that's how it goes. Now shut up and follow Ventus. We'll continue briefing you two on everything as you make your way up.”</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Truth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWXrbnPgarc">Wadsworth</a>
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  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw_X6M9owbg">Delusion</a>
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  <em><b>Chapter 4: Truth</b> </em>
</p><p>The newly formed temporary group composed of assets from both sides of the spectrum of Novus City had come to an agreement. With similar goals in mind, the underground group of slum dwellers found that Agents, the ones assigned to keep situations like the one they were experiencing now at bay or concealed, could be quite cooperative. Strangely enough, the group was short two if not three members, due to Oxye's stationary headquarters on Level 6, his sister staying with him while he tried to find a way to perhaps reboot her vision-implants and now Vosh forcefully making her way up to Level 5. Whether it was her own will causing her to continue like this or Nexus manipulating her was up in the air. There were no clear, physical signs of a takeover. The only evidence they had was that she was once again wielding Animus, despite her clear distaste of the thing and past avoidance of it.</p><p>The trio of Ventus, Hunter and Sophie trailed some distance behind the Ngirrth'luin girl, who seemed to mutter and scream in her native tongue as she threatened any who came near her. Those who did not listen had either been beaten or injured severely, showing that if it was Nexus who was causing all of this, then Vosh still had some control over her actions. From the first brutality involving Sophie's augmented, spliced beast to the few poor Ngirrth'luin who tried to shake her out of it, there was always a slight amount of hesitation, becoming more and more obvious as her trail continued along the streets and alleys of Level 6.</p><p>The trio paused for a moment as Ventus gave a hand motion to stay hidden, only him taking the time to peer over the railing down at his sister who had clearly caught sight of them, her vision locked up towards where Ventus and the other two hid, “You know we're following you, don't you? Snap the hell out of it, then. What the hell is wrong with you?” muttered a concerned twin brother, pulling down from his viewing spot. He doubt she heard him, but after peeking over one last time and seeing her continue to stare up for a few more moments before quietly moving along it was apparent that she knew she was being followed.</p><p>“So do you have any idea what could be wrong with Voshy, Ventus? I've never run into anything like this in my research, even when I tried pushing...okay, I won't go so far as to explain THAT particular trial, but I'm aware of what happens to the Ngirrth'luin when they've reached a threshold of knowledge of a certain kind,” a similarly concerned Sophie commented as the trio began moving once more, “That's what my whole deal with the 'beasts' was, though those were much more exaggerated than the one true subject I managed to catch sight of, and you wouldn't believe-”</p><p>“There's a clear difference between 'ascension' and 'transcendence', Sophie. If you're trying to explain my mother to me, trust me, I'm more than aware that she moved beyond ascension,” the Ngirrth'luin male stated as he pulled the heavy scarf down from his muzzle, “It's how she earned her title, and obviously her position as Head Councilor. They both fear and admire her as much as Ngirrth'lu himself, but know the difference between a Great One and an individual proven to be above the traditional route of life.”</p><p>A shriek echoed down below the three, clear sign that Vosh was on the move again, though something was off. She had thrown herself down onto all fours, despite her boots still being on her feet. The only thought that flashed by any of them was that it must have been quite uncomfortable, but with her current state of being it wasn't too much of a surprise to see something like this occur. With that, the Ngirrth'luin girl took off in a rush, heading towards what looked like a maintenance ladder tunnel, more than likely linked to Level 5, considering how heavily guarded it was by the number of Enforcers present around its perimeter.</p><p><em>“That's one seriously horrible design flaw,”</em> the voice of Oxye echoed from the headset Ventus hid beneath his scarf, <em>“You would think that with the Upper Levels being the Sanctum for the ones controlling all of this would only have one major way in and out. Seriously, who puts a maintenance ladder in a place like that? Maybe they're not as smart as we thought...that or just really damn confident.</em>”</p><p>Ventus and the others looked at each other a few moments as each of them prepared their firearms and minds for what was soon to occur. In other words, Ventus needed a moment to think of what he was going to be involving himself in and needed the other two to stay put until he was ready. It'd been a long time since he'd voluntarily taken targets down. Now that he thought of it, he only ever actually eliminated three targets. Any others were simply rendered harmless and collected. He wasn't a bounty hunter, though. Why did he even do that?</p><p>He shook his head before taking a deep breath, giving the signal for the trio to move out and follow his sister towards her target, and soon to be multitude of targets. Moving along at this altitude compared to the streets Vosh roamed was a strange experience for him, but the Sophie and Hunter seemed to enjoy it. They were Agents, after all. Being incognito was their forte, though the sight of the shark's weapon made him think other wise. He did admit, however, that it was quite an impressive design. In fact it reminded him of something Ox- <em>“So, how'd you manage to get your claws on that weapon design, SoFi? Or is it Agent Darkfin? Either way, I'm curious.”</em></p><p>The scientist gurgled in annoyance a bit, “I kept you from getting them first, that's how. You're not as slick as everyone makes you out to be, mutt.”</p><p>
  <em>“So it was you, huh? You do realize I made it past-”</em>
</p><p>“This is such an irrelevant conversation right now! Just keep us updated with important stuff, please. We can go back to our little hacking-war later, m'kay~?”</p><p>Both Hunter and Ventus cringed a bit at how easily the aquatic Agent shifted between tones, almost as if it was two different beings in one. She was stable however, despite the negative assumptions. With the distracting conversation and thoughts behind, the three finally reached a point above the already occurring fight below, the sound of flesh and augmented armor being seared, shot and torn. She was still outnumbered, however. Despite the different goals of each of three, they had one objective, and that was to ensure Vosh remained intact long enough for them to not only separate her and Animus, but to also make their way up to Level 5 and finally get the answers they've been seeking.</p><p>They each drew out their ranged weaponry, setting their sights on a target each, waiting for any of them to make a move, but something was off. None of the Enforcers had drawn any weapons, merely staring at Vosh before finally stepping away from the girl, allowing her to progress as she had before, “What the hell? Why aren't they-” Sophie cut herself short as she realized what could be the case, “Damn it! It's the Head Councilor. She's giving them new orders, I can tell.”</p><p>Unfortunately, she couldn't have been more correct. The longer they kept their sights on the policing bodies below, the more obvious their orders had become. Slowly each of them began to shift their sights up to where the trio were perched. Strangely enough, Ventus had already anticipated this, and he was absolutely sure it wasn't what Sophie had assumed. No, the voice was much too different. More immature, less refined and sophisticated to be someone such as the Head Councilor to have. After listening a bit more and watching his sister continue to stand there while the Enforcers continued to shift their vision in their direction, it was clear it was Vosh giving these orders. Only in the moment before the police began to fire their rifles up at their nest did Ventus finally hear the powerful yet faint voice of his sister in the distance, “<em>N'gha!”</em></p><p>She was speaking their old tongue, something he tried to avoid completely in order to avoid confusing anyone, and something he thought Vosh had forced herself to forget. But it didn't matter anymore as he and the other two dove away from the ledge in order to keep out of the Enforcers' sights, “You were half right about something, Sophie. They were given orders, but not by the Head Councilor!” he exclaimed as he popped up towards the ledge again to take a quick, clean series of shots at a few of the firing squad's members, taking each down in a matter of only a few seconds before diving down once more, “It was Vosh! I could hear her for a second, and those orders involved 'Death'!”</p><p>Both Hunter and Sophie had coordinated their efforts together, almost as if in some kind of silent link with one another as they both charged and fired their railgun-type weapons at two unfortunate targets, four pieces of flesh falling to the ground in a bloody, gruesome mess, “I'd say clean kill...” Hunter began as he and Sophie both backed away from the ledge.</p><p>“...but you know that's a damn lie. I fucking love these things~!” exclaimed the Thresher before she precisely moved back up to take another rapid, yet accurate shot at one more unfortunate life. At this point, Ventus was both pleased and afraid of the two potential allies he'd made. On one hand he had two amazing shots, on the other they could easily turn and eliminate him whenever they wanted.</p><p>Following up her previous shot, the cloned Wolf immediately moved back up to 1-up his partner, taking out two more Enforcers, his sights inadvertently beginning to hover over the Ngirrth'luin that was Vosh for a moment. With that, Vosh immediately turned to stare directly up at him, almost as if she could see through his sights and into his very mind, him freezing up entirely during the time she did this. For what seemed like more than just a moment, Hunter felt as though the brat was sifting her way through his already deteriorating mentality, “What the hell...!?” he struggled to exclaim has he felt his grip loosen from his weapon, the expensive prototype falling off of the ledge down into the streets below to never be found again.</p><p>The only thing that he could hear were the strange words of “<em>hupadgh lloig”</em>, which he had no clue how to properly pronounce nor understand. This moment seemed to go on forever as he began to see flashing images of his own creation, the other potential replacements in stasis along with him. Bodies of anonymous scientists scuffled about in a rapid fashion around the area. The sounds of a dying clone echoed, followed by another and another until he found himself being awakened from his own stasis. Lifeless on the ground until taken away, the sounds of his predecessor talking in the language he could not bring himself to understand finally breaking through to him, “<em>Born of mind...? How did you-”</em></p><p>Before he could even finish asking, he felt a sudden jolt of pain, and that was him falling and slamming his head down onto the metal walkway below him. Fortunately, it wasn't hard enough to knock him out, though it definitely left him dazed as he struggled to get himself back up onto his feet. With an unsatisfied gargle, Sophie grabbed her partner's arm and hoisted him up onto his feet, “You slip and fall, you cluts? C'mon, she's moved on and you're over here about to take a fucking nap again!”</p><p>He struggled to level himself out onto even footing once more, causing him to fall against the railing as he held himself up, his rifle falling over the ledge and causing his insane partner to his and gargle in frustration. The loss of the weapon was not a huge loss in reality, however. The shark had single handedly eliminated any remaining Enforcers down below, though from the looks of it only a handful were truly slayed by Sophie. Most looked as if they'd simply fell over and died, as if some other ominous force took the life from their bodies. But after looking over at Ventus, his assumptions quickly became doubts.</p><p>“...so they're not a myth,” the Ngirrth'luin stated as he placed a lit cigarette into his muzzle, taking a long drag before exhaling and leaning against the railing near the artificially produced Wolf, “'<em>A council of four directed by one. Whoever can't achieve what needs to be done will become undone.'</em> I used to think that was just crazy talk down in the slums, graffiti everywhere, tagged along the sides of buildings, sometimes even scratched into the metal side walks or walkways, and even welded into various metal structures. But you two always knew, didn't you? You had to have known. This isn't so much a Council as it is an enforcement pyramid.”</p><p>Sophie, who had just finished putting away her heavy, sniper-like weapon into its case, even looked as if her face had been drained of most life, simply at the sight of whatever they'd seen, “I never expected them to actually be like...like that. The last one to visit me aside from the Head Councilor seemed to calm, collected, not to mention reserved with how those robes you amazingly horrific Ngirrth'luin wear,” she then proceeded to actually help her partner onto his feet, dusting his jacket off in the process, “You think we could capture one? Maybe I could figure out a way to-”</p><p>“No! Absolutely fucking not! Do you understand what they are, Sophie?” Ventus exclaimed as he tossed his cig over the ledge, “They're the epitomy of ascendance. They're mad, but able to control themselves enough to keep from going insane. You saw the abilities they hold. They KILLED, not incapacitated, KILLED those poor souls just with their presence and a shriek. It literally felt like whatever souls might have occupied those bodies were torn from their very core and absorbed! You can't tell me you didn't feel it, either.”</p><p>The thresher shark merely waved off everything he'd said, as if none of it mattered to here, only that she wanted to know if what she asked was possible. She soon found her wrist roughly tightened on as Ventus wrapped a firm hand around the shark's arm, “Ow- what the hell! Let go of me you idiot!”</p><p>“Not until you start thinking fucking realistically. You're not in your stupid lab anymore. This isn't some trial-and-error process. There are lives at stake here, and I don't just mean ours. Now come on,” he stated firmly as he seemingly threw the shark's arm back at her, causing her clawed, webbed hand to essentially slap herself, “It's quiet and the elevator hasn't been recalled automatically yet. Vosh already escaped into the maintenance ladder tunnels. Too risky to chase her in those tunnels.”</p><p>“Well I personally think I should chase her through those tunnels. You know, in case of the chance of being able to cut off-”</p><p>“Enough with the fucking flirty games!” Ventus' voice boomed in response to Sophie's words. It went quiet after that as they all recollected themselves and quickly made their way back down to street level, being sure to secure any corners and doorways before they finally moved into the large elevator. It was noticeable that this wasn't quite as large as the ones sub-level 5. Then again, said elevators transported large volumes of citizens to other civilian levels. Where this one was heading obviously wasn't for that purpose.</p><p><em>“If the info I have here is up to date, and I really do hope it is...that elevator's gonna take you guys up to Level 5. The bad news...well, not surprisingly bad news in my eyes, is that this elevator's other end is in the headquarters of-”</em> the sound of Oxye's static-y voice would be cut off as an annoyed shark lowered the volume on her communicator around her neck.</p><p>“As he was saying,” she began as she once again began to unpack and assemble her rifle, “This elevator is linked directly up to the main HQ of the Enforcers, which also acts as a social hub for 'forcers and Agents alike. In other words, we're going to be getting lifted-”</p><p><em>“-up into the hornets' nest itself,” </em>the Fen-Chi's voice once again rang from the thresher's communicator, <em>“You need to update your security, woman. Way too easy to bypass and manipulate. But yeah, expect violence. Just promise Molly and I you won't die, Ventus.”</em></p><p>There was no response after that, leaving Oxye a bit worried as the sounds of weapons being powered back on, reloaded and assembled echoed through the feed. Back in his temporary base of operations, it was clear he was busy with everything tech. Already the braniac had begun to work on an alternate, full-proof version of the compact energy cell he created for Molly's usage. In his eyes, what had happened to her was all a fault on his end. Whether from a technological standpoint, a strategic standpoint or even both, there was no reason that his sister should be blind right now, “By this time tomorrow everything's gonna be back to normal, Molly. I swear on it...”</p><p>Luckily for her, Oxye had not caught his sister standing near the doorway to his work space, silently listening in on everything that had transpired so far. Nothing was supposed to be like this. This city couldn't have been designed like they'd all been discussing. Not at the beginning, anyways. There was just no way. The slums were the slums, the living habitats were just that, and law enforcement were supposed to be nothing but. All of this was maddening. There was so much she didn't know, wanted to know...but in actuality she just wanted everything to go back to how it was before her brother began this quest for knowledge, to know just exactly what was going on here. Why couldn't they just remain ignorant and happy? It worked like that for so long, but now...that was the past, just like her vision. All gone, meaningless.</p><p>She slowly moved away from the doorway towards one of the large window panels that overlooked Level 6 from their nest in this building. With a gentle press against it, she found it was of an old design and was not sealed like most, allowing a cool breeze of heavily filtered air to brush against her face, leaving her a bit teary eyed from the sudden gust.</p><p>All she could hear now were the sounds of Enforcement vehicles giving orders to fall back to Level 5. She didn't know how to feel about this. If they were capable of even doing their jobs, perhaps Vosh and Ventus could have only dealt with imprisonment and been bailed out by Oxye at some point soon through some massive loophole, but she knew that'd never be the case. Not with those two. She then moved herself to sit on the ledge of the window, enjoying the feeling of what felt like new found freedom as her thoughts continued to race. It wasn't in their nature to just submit. But even then, she feared that since this had all turned to violence that she'd lose two extremely close friends for good.</p><p>Frustrated growls and yelps echoed from her brother's work space. Either he'd messed up on something, or he'd began to doubt himself again, even after he'd done so much for everyone. He didn't have to get involved in all of this, either. Before Vosh and Ventus came into the picture it was always just him and her. Times were...simpler then. His business was less competitive because he only took small jobs, enough to get them by as always. Not to mention the nightlife they participated in...but again, that was the past. The cold air that pushed against her on the ledge of this window reminded her of that. Nothing could ever be the same, “I guess we all gotta let go at some point, don't we bro?” she whispered to herself as she slowly began to lean forward on her perch, wondering just how high she was now. One thing about being blind, you never knew where your next move was going to take you...and so she went.</p><p> </p><p>* * *</p><p>
  <em>“The longer you take, the more you resist, the less time you have to fix what could have been right from the start, Phantasm. Confront your mother and her Council. Take your rightful place. Slay those who would say otherwise. Remove your inhibitor from this world in front of her. You, daughter of Vythica, descendant of Ngirrth'lu. You can be so much more. We are closer now to your mother than we once were. She awaits you.”</em>
</p><p>* * *</p><p>The elevator came to slow, quiet halt, though the doors did not open immediately. In fact, it felt as though perhaps they were being controlled manually, this assumption being confirmed as the trio heard a voice from a speaker on the contraption, “Enforcement HQ, state your vector and business. This elevator is for restricted use only.”</p><p>Sophie and Hunter quickly looked at one another as they holstered their weapons, both giving Ventus a look as he switched his sidearm on and released the safety. With a subtle grab, Sophie quietly directed the Ngirrth'luin to holster his weapon, though she allowed the weapon to remain as it was, “Look,” she began in a soft voice, though the sound of her sharp teeth chomping while she did so became distracting very quickly, “I'll forgive you for grabbing me earlier if you listen. We need you to act prisoner. These guys probably think we're the unit they sent down earlier. You know, the one we killed? They'll listen to Agents, though. Especially if we decided to save their damn objective, at least one of them anyways.”</p><p>“I've never been caught. What makes you think I'll let you make me act as if I finally have been?” the Ngirrth'luin answered back with a quiet, snarling voice. After a bit of quiet staring, he finally relented and let Hunter cuff him, though the slight beep from them let him know they were remote controlled. When he looked over at Sophie, she playfully waved the remote at him as she shoved it into one of her pockets. All Ventus could do was smirk as she spat the butt of his last cig onto the ground, “...smart girl.”</p><p>“I try,” she responded with a wink before clearing her throat, “Agent, procurement of highly sought suspect code named 'Alpha 2', We finished your damn work for you, now let us in. Jackass here killed every single one of your latest unit to patrol the Level 6 entrance. Rookies or what?”</p><p>“'Alpha 2'? How in the world did you manage that? We've been trying to apprehend and interrogate him and his sister ever since they arrived. His kind aren't welcomed in Novus City.”</p><p>“Yeah, well...don't send rookies to do the work of what Glowy and I can do as a hobby,” she commented as the doors began to unseal, though they'd still yet to open.</p><p>“Wait, 'Glowy'? Is that you Sophie? And Hunter? What the hell were you two doing on Level 6? Level's on heavy lockdown.”</p><p>“Just open the doors already. Mr. Grumpy Gills here is starting to get impatient with you guys. Obviously he didn't think we'd catch him. Guess he thought wrong, right?” she asked with a slight chuckle, mimicking a smack against Ventus' face, him grunting in turn to make this all the more convincing, “But seriously, open up. I'm pretty sure there's an event tonight in 'forcer HQ. It's social night, right? Even better if that's the case.”</p><p>“Oh, right, yeah. Think some of the crew's been wanting to see you. Shame your visit's because of this slippery piece of trash. You can still say 'hi' right?”</p><p>Sophie mustered up the most convincing laugh she could, “Haha, of course I can! But seriously, open the door. Even I'm starting to get impatient. And get someone to start upgrading this cart. It's way outdated now.” And without a second more wasted, the doors finally slid open, revealing the trio to the small, waiting crowd of varying faces, none of which she recognized, “Oh...well this is certainly one hell of a welcoming party. And you're all still in uniform...weird. Shouldn't you all be changing into something more appropriate? I can hear the music in the mess hall. That's where you all party, right?”</p><p>The crowd remained quiet, their varying gas masks, helmets and other head gear keeping their expressions completely anonymous. Though they didn't show it physically, Sophie and Hunter had grown slightly nervous as they began to move Ventus through the crowd until one of them, a female, finally spoke up, “It's funny how you two and this suspect survived what happened down below. Must got some real talent...” she began, the sound of her voice slightly muffled and morphed by her gas mask, her breathing able to be heard, “Now what was your real reason for being down there? Last we had any sign of your 'work', Agent Sophie, was before your main lab housed in Level 6's main tower had a power outage, not to mention majority of the level's power grid going down. I hope you don't think we're all as stupid as those 'rookies' you bared witness to being slaughtered by this Ngirrth'luin's sister.”</p><p>Something irked at Ventus when she spoke. The only ones capable of truly pronouncing his species' name were those who were able to use the tongue they spoke with. When he examined the padded armored, dark outfitted Enforcer, it was clear she was not a simple officer like the rest. Her outfit's design was something she'd adapted as her own, midrift exposed and cargos gathered up to her knees, the bottoms tucked into her boots, “...I didn't think Enforcement would ever recruit Ngirrth'luin into their ranks,” Ventus stated as he straightened himself out a bit, causing him to look a bit taller than he had before, “And a Captain at that. Run out of test subjects? Or have you been driven to believe the lies that the Councilors have begun shoving down your throats?”</p><p>The Captain merely chuckled as she weaved her padded gloved fingers together and pushed outwards, cracking her knuckles as well as her back a bit, “I didn't think I'd see you any time soon, Ven,” she commented as she moved her hands to begin removing her mask and helmet, revealing the dark locks accented by what looked to be a pale lavender, as well as a slightly scratched up face, “But yeah...there's a whole lot you don't even know, nor will you ever believe.”</p><p>The tall male Ngirrth'luin growled a bit as he began to recognize one of his old childhood friends, wondering why the hell she was here in Novus City, “What the hell are you doing in that tacky tactical gear, Xelki? Last I saw of you was when you decided to run off and act like some kind of vigilante. Is this what you wanted? To be some puppet in the major picture of what the hell is going on in this city?”</p><p>“No...no, not really. But...” she began as she quickly and roughly smacked Ventus across the face with the butt of her sidearm she unholstered in a surprisingly quick fashion, “...it's way better to be a puppet than a criminal, especially with how things work around here. Now, you're going to tell these two Agents to let you go so you can come with me. We have a lot to catch up on.”</p><p>Her words were immediately followed by a frustrated, disgusted gargle from the only aquatic born Agent in the room, “How much do you really know, woman? You don't and shouldn't know a thing, even if you're like this guy in nature-”</p><p>“Oh, it's not just me! Take a look around you, 'Agents', or should I say Double Agents?” Xelki exclaimed as the other Enforcers that stood behind her began to remove their head gear as well, revealing that none of them were like those whom they'd encountered before. No, this was something else. A specialized unit, “There's a reason the Ngirrth'luin are in charge of what goes around here, and there's a reason why we're here in this very spot with you low lives.” Her words began to have somewhat of an accent to them, many of the others near her beginning to laugh to most of what she stated, “That's right Ventus, majority of who you or your sister have senselessly killed in the past were your own damn people. You were both just too deluded to think otherwise. If I'd paid more attention back in the Brood Tower, maybe I could confirm it. You've both gone mad! Look at you. Your teeth have grown, your pupils have dilated, and your physique has shifted to something a bit more primal. You didn't think that was just you growing up, did you? I hope you know what happens to Ngirrth'luin who begin the stages of failed ascendance, Ven...”</p><p>Suddenly there was a subtle beep that echoed from behind Ventus, a slight smirk on each member of the rogue trio's faces. Before anyone could even properly react, Ventus made the first move by placing a booted foot against the strapped chest of the Captain, “It's not 'failed' if I don't plan on losing control of myself, Xelki,” was the sly remark he made before forcefully shoving her back into her unit, causing most of them to stumble while the trio began drawing out their weapons and making a run for it towards the mess hall.</p><p>“Gah...! Well?! Don't just stand there, pursue them! We can't have them moving into Level 5! Move it, ladies!” were the words the trio heard behind them as they quickly dodged and shoved their way through small crowds of off-duty, non-Ngirrth'luin Enforcers, many dressed in casual or club-like clothing. Of course, most of their shoving was met with various words of profanity or even attempts at trying to start a bit of rough housing from the amount of alcohol some of the partygoers had already taken into their systems. Before long, and with Xelki's unit not too far behind them, they finally made it into the mess hall, a multi-leveled atrium where a similar system to the city's level system probably existed. This was confirmed when off-duty Enforcers on the other levels began looking down to the dark, dimly lit and strobing dance floor below them.</p><p>Sophie and Hunter had already given each other silent hand signals along the way and when they entered the place, leaving Ventus a bit confused as to some of the signs. The shark rolled her eyes as she gripped at the Ngirrth'luin's shoulder, looking up at him for a moment before pointing at the back end of the hall, “That exit's going to take you out of here. Use the cover of the crowd to make your way out and get to your sister before she causes any more trouble. If she's hurt before I get a chance to properly meet her, I'll hurt you. Oh, and pass this along to her,” she stated entirely in a calm, controlled fashion before placing a quick kiss on Ventus' cheek and shoving him into the crowd, leaving him a bit dumbfounded before he regained his footing and began doing as she'd instructed, leaving her and Hunter to deal with Xelki's unit. As the music in the hall continued to play, the female Agent hissed as she slung her rifle back over her shoulder and moved up to the second floor on the opposite end of her partner who had already taken cover and was more than likely priming anything else that may have needed to be prepared.</p><p>As the unit entered the hall, Ventus had silently made his escape, leaving his two temporary accomplices to deal with something he wasn't sure they'd make it out of. Something became very off in a short time, however. Ventus' phone was powered on without his knowing, and from it, as well as what probably was every speaker in the city, he heard the voice of what sounded like a distraught Fen-Chi, “Oxye? What the hell?”</p><p>
  <em>“You all did it! Congratulations! You all managed to finally dissolve this broken, corrupted shit hole of a city down to nothing buy anarchy and chaos. You all...all of you! You all caused this! Especially YOU, Head Councilor! And all of your freaks you have do the dirty work for you! That's right, I can see it all. Everything you've ever done, they've ever done, you'd had your Councilors, Agents and Enforcers do! It's all here!”</em>
</p><p>Despite the music still playing, it was clear where Sophie and Hunter were now from the sound of Oxye's voice screaming through their bypassed communicators, causing them both to rip them off from themselves and toss them down towards Xelki and her unit, hoping that maybe she'd listen to what the upset Fen-Chi was saying, <em>“You're all so afraid of the 'truth' being revealed to simple civilians like me that you'd rather just cover up the leaks than actually work to fix it! Do you know what that does? Breeds...curiosity. The need to know, to acquire more information and learn why everything here is like it is! And the 'truth'? This place isn't Novus City! No. No, no, no! It's worse than that! This is the second coming of your lost, doomed city of R'lyeh! That's right, R'lyeh. How can I pronounce that? Because we're all deep in our genetic code R'lyehian! Just look at this! You can't deny it! And now...now I realize why some simple people like myself are driven insane when we find out. Why we choose to put ourselves out of our misery than continue to live a life of confusion, depression and eventually madness. It's because of you all that I have nothing else to fucking live for! This all could have been avoided if you were just up front with your people of New R'lyeh, Vythica! Now...now...it's too late. I couldn't stop her! You hear that Vosh and Ventus!? SHE'S GONE! MOLLY IS GONE, DRIVEN TO DO WHAT SHE DID AFTER REALIZING THAT NOTHING CAN EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN, ALL BECAUSE OF YOUR PEOPLE AND THEIR REFUSAL TO JUST ADMIT THAT THE WAY THEY RUN THEIR CITY IS WRONG!”</em></p><p> </p><p>* * *</p><p>The ranting did not stop as Oxye continued to stream his voice over the massive network of speakers and other audible devices throughout the city, <em>“</em>We...we never had to get involved in any of this! I used to think that maybe I could just expose everything and have those like me in the slums of this hell hole could just...rise up! Take on the corrupt and make this city into what it could have and should have been! But...that's just me speaking from the past. Now we have nothing but destruction, death...I now realize that Agents work for the Council, but have their consciousness to make the proper decisions needed. Sophie and Hunter, I'm sorry for ever doubting you, but you two always knew, too! Why didn't you make the right choices from the beginning?! We could have avoided all of this if you'd tried to properly contact Vosh and Ventus, ALL OF THIS! She's gone forever, guys...! I...I-I don't know what to do anymore...”</p><p>The streaming did not end as the sound of the door to Oxye's new temporary base of operations sounded as if it was being forcefully opened. He did not panic, however. Nor did he even turn to face who or whatever had breached his work space. He knew what was to come from his actions, only turning at the last moment to face and look up at the towering figure that was a Councilor, garbed in a dark, short sleeved robe, their face covered by a metal mask that eliminated the need to show emotion, “I'm sorry guys...” were the last words to leave the Fen-Chi's mouth before a gust of wind blew through the open windows of Oxye's work space, revealing the underworkings of what was truly beneath the robes of the Councilor. A multitude of knives, throwing projectiles and sidearms lined the straps along their chest. But what was most noticeable were the plethora of augmentations to their body. Their legs and feet were no longer organic, nor were their arms as a straight, yet sharp blade extended from both the wrist and elbow of their right arm. At long last the infamous slicer was tracked down, and with a swift plunging of their weapon into the chest of the frail boy, Oxye was no more, the sounds of his pained gargling and cries of sorrow exiting his muzzle for the last time over the live stream that continued to feed throughout the city. Everything was followed by the loud noises of the station's equipment being destroyed, then static, then...nothing.</p><p> </p><p>* * *</p><p>The static had filled the converted mess hall along with the still playing music before it finally cut off, Xelki and her unit seemingly unphased by the heavy words of Oxye. Perhaps what he said had fallen on deaf ears, or those who simply did not care. The music had shifted. Sirens outside of Enforcer HQ had begun to go off, any and all entrances or exits now sealed off as the loud clanking and hissing of vault doors sliding down over the metal doorways echoed through the hallways and mess hall, “Looks like we got a new assignment, everybody. Eliminate Agents SoFi and Hunter III. Leave no traces...” Xelki commanded as she pulled a heavy electro-baton from its sheath on her belt, whipping it outwards and causing it to power on with a hum as the rest of her unit began to spread and search the base floor as well as the floor above them.</p><p>The duo already knew their fate. Even with how well trained and specialized they were, perhaps this was the best way for them to go out, “You know you 'forcers gotta make this look interesting right? Let us show you why we're Agents and held more highly above you grunts. Why we're not just fodder...” the voice of the shark Agent echoed through the room along with the music. After a short moment, the individual members of the unit began to converge onto where she was, only to be met by the sudden, blinding flash from a flash grenade and multiple deafening shots from her rail-gun type rifle, allowing her to make a quick escape to the next floor above her and begin setting up for her next encounter.</p><p>Meanwhile, the wolf Agent had already gotten physically involved with Xelki herself, dodging any and all of her rapid swings, but not before tossing two sticky concussion charges at the two members of her unit that had gone ahead of her towards his position like amateurs, “You talk a lot of game for a Captain who can't hit a target my size. Guess that's why you're with Enforcement and not under Vythica herse-” he cut himself short as he blocked one of her few attacks to actually land against him, the sound of his jacket sleeve being burned down to what was supposed to be his flesh hissing, “...well that's unfortunate. For you of course, not me. Don't tell me you didn't think I'd take advantage of a sample of what it means to be a Councilor?” His words were stern, yet at the same time cocky as he shoved the Captain off and away from him, tearing off the hanging fabric from his jack to reveal that one of his arms had been augmented similarly to other, more terrifying beings, “There's a reason I was an experiment before a vessel for my father's memories. Now you know why.”</p><p>“Just shut up and die, will you? I'm here to complete an objective, not shit chat in the middle of a fight,” Xelki stated as she took a few more swings at Hunter, only to have her weapon grabbed at and pulled from her grip into the air behind the cloned wolf, it penetrating into a nearby metal column, “You're just as bad as they are...”</p><p>“I bet you're stupid enough to believe that, too. Unlike them, I-” he stopped as he looked above to where Sophie had moved to, only to witness her body fall over the ledge down to the floor behind Xelki. She'd obviously been over run, and the marks that scarred her limp body were not projectile based, they were claw based, “...you're all monsters. This is what he wanted to prevent!” Hunter exclaimed as he swiftly backhanded the Captain with such a force that she stumbled back a few steps, toppling over the newly-made corpse of what was once one of the heads of technological advancement in the city, “You're all dead, all of you!”</p><p>There was only the sounds of chuckling from the Captain as she slowly got herself back up onto her booted feet, wiping away some of the crimson that leaked from the side of her mouth, ignoring the heavy, throbbing pain that pulsed along the side of her face. In that moment, any and all of her unit that had been on the floor where Sophie attempted her last stand had jumped down to the main floor, the sounds of heavy boots and strapped down weapons rattling echoing, “No, Agent...no we're not. Don't worry, we'll make sure anything you two have learned is preserved like always. A shame for her, though,” she stated as she kicked and rolled over the limp body of Hunter's deceased partner, “She'll be what your father was before the process began with him. And whatever 'Sophie' comes after her will have to deal with what you have been. Remember, you're Agents. You're important, especially your thoughts and memories...”</p><p>There was silence for a few moments from within the building that Ventus still stood outside of, wondering if he should try to work his way back in. The sound of what seemed like a firing squad quickly made him realize that it was too late now, “...damn it...damn it, damn it all! That's enough...I'm putting an end to this today or else...” he stated as he turned and began to run towards what looked like the primary building that would take him to Level 1, “...there won't be a tomorrow. For anyone. Not even you, Vosh...”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Mother</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecy7qaf02VU">Lost</a>
</p><p>
  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg6h0zmVxwA">4th Bell</a>
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  <em><b>Chapter 5: Mother</b> </em>
</p><p>“Come now, Ashir. There is no need for you to examine those monitors. Everything is fine, love. Everything you think you may have seen is merely...a play, an act. None of it is real, my sweet pup. Come on, over here...good girl. See? Just a scary show. Your sister will be here soon. I can feel it. You don't need to worry anymore, love...” the soft yet powerful words of the city's head figure gently echoed through the primary auditorium that housed the workings of the Council. Although she did not want to admit it, nor even show her mother that she'd picked up on a basic grasp of the basic tongue used in the city, she was afraid of her mother. No matter how much she loved her, there was something about her that kept her from wanting to get too close. She preferred spending most of her time away from her mother, watching the monitors that watched over the occurrences of the city. She'd figured out how to track her siblings, but that only brought her pain. This wasn't the Vosh she knew. This wasn't the Ventus that played with her. And all of the violence she finally realized was an act based upon the individual's choice to act... “It's just a bad dream, dear. Get some rest. She'll be here soon enough.”</p><p>But she knew it was a lie. She witnessed everything. The images she saw were not made up or simulated. Oxye and Molly were gone. The two Agents that helped set this all into motion were mutilated because they began to realize what her mother was trying to do and turned for the benefit of everyone else who lived here. But yet...it didn't feel real. It couldn't be real. Maybe her mother was right. Maybe this was just a bad dream. A nap began to sound pleasant. With all of these big thoughts running rampant in her little head, maybe it was best to listen to her mother and rest for the time being. The Vosh that wasn't Vosh would be here soon. She only hoped that Ventus made it here in time, too, “...slee...py...”</p><p>“I'll wake you when the time comes, Ashir. Rest well, my child...”</p><p> </p><p>* * *</p><p>This pain in her legs...how long had she been on the move? It felt like days, weeks even. Every motion seemed to be driven by something other than her. Her hands were cut and bruised now She'd never sprinted on all fours, especially not in her boots. So why was she now sitting up against the wall in fatigue? Had Nexus driven her this far? This wasn't a proper place for resting. Words rang in her head, the most repeated being the name 'Vythica'. Was that who she was? Her mother whom she'd never met. The one who controlled everything, even what was happening to her? No...it couldn't be. All that mattered was that she had a moment to rest right now against this strange metal wall, though the texture made her think that perhaps it was composed of something else.</p><p>To her right was an entrance to a building, but with how she was feeling there was no way she could physically bring herself to move inside. The floor was wet, so was this wall. She wasn't where she was supposed to be anymore, “...what Level is...where the fuck am I...?” she whispered to herself as her eyes slowly gazed around, trying to come to about her whereabouts. There was nothing like this from where she'd been, aside from the sewers and various piping and tunnels she may have explored out of boredom a long time ago. This was something new and different all together.</p><p>But yet...it was also familiar to her. She had worked with plenty of metal tools, materials and pieces before, but never was it ever 'moist'. Humidity seemed to radiate off of the surface of it all. Weakly she dragged her fingers across the wall. It was cold like steel, but at the same time it radiated an unnatural warmth that made vapor rise from it, as if it was breathing, “...R'lyehian stone? But how? I couldn't have...” she gasped as she thought that perhaps she'd been back to the old, lost city. As she looked up, she discovered that the entrance nearby led into a tower of sorts, “The Brood Tower? No...no, please not again!” Her words quickly turned to screeching, echoing through the oddly quiet area. She couldn't be back to where all of this internal pain started. Where she was given the blade, the title, the rite...she never wanted any of it. She just wanted to live freely without the burdens of being what she was. But it seemed that it was impossible to esca-</p><p>“Vosh?! Vosh where the fuck are you?! Damn it...” the words of someone familiar rang from a short distance away, accompanied by heavy footsteps caused by a pair of boots trudging along the wet ground, “Vosh! Fucking...Vosh! Scream again or something you little shit!” he continued to yell out. The pace at which he was moving told her that he wasn't exactly specifically looking for her, though. As she listened a bit more closely, the sounds of weapons being fired could be heard echoing from the building not too far away from where she was. With whatever strength and energy she could muster up, she slowly and clumsily made her way back up onto her booted feet, finally off of the wet ground, yet still only able to hold herself up by leaning against the wall.</p><p>“Ventus...!” she screamed in both pain and fear. She didn't want to be here, not again. She wanted to start making her way towards her twin brother, but the amount of tension in her body caused her to gripe, moan and cry as she attempted to call out to her brother once again, “Ventus, please...! It hurts...!” Her breathing was a bit exasperated, trying to find some logical way to scream, cry and breath at the same time.</p><p>Without another moment wasted, she could see her brother sprinting towards her location, water splashing around his feet as his footsteps became heavier during his slowing to prevent charging right into Vosh. Nevertheless, she flinched weakly, expecting some kind of impact, only to be met with the warm embrace from her brother as he grabbed her and pulled his twin into a tight hug, “Thank goodness you're okay, Vosh. I don't know what I'd have done if I lost you, too,” he stated as he kissed the top of his sister's messy head, her ears lowering down as he felt her begin to sob into him, “Sshh, it's okay. I know it wasn't you that caused any of this. You're as innocent as...well, innocent in this. Just try to-”</p><p>“WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP ME SOONER, YOU FUCK?!” she exclaimed as she started to weakly pound a fist against her brother's chest, “Now we're back in R'lyeh, and, and...damn it Ventus, I don't want to fucking be here again!”</p><p>“R'lyeh...? Vosh, we're still in the city. Snap out of it!”</p><p>“You said we'd never come back!”</p><p>“We didn't go back, Vosh!”</p><p>“You said you'd keep me safe from any bullshit!”</p><p>At this point Ventus began to loosen his hold on his erratic twin sister, giving an expression that told her that he wasn't about to deal with her senselessly emotional self, “You need to calm down. We never left Novus City. You and I are still here, despite the situations that haven't exactly worked in anyone's favor...” he began as he placed his gloved hands firmly onto the shivering shoulders of Vosh, “They're all gone, Vosh. Oxye, Molly...even those two Agents, Hunter and Sophie. Vosh, we need to put an end to th-...”</p><p>“I just want to go home, you idiot! I want to go back to being the little mechanic that people came to because they couldn't go anywhere else for their problems. I want to go back to playing tricks on Oxye and Molly. I want to go back to being happy and not dealing with all of this historical bullshit that's all linked to this stupid fucking knife! I want-...! I want...I want to be happy again...”</p><p>“Vosh...” he said in a low, sympathetic tone, “...I can't...I can't promise you that. Listen to me when I say Oxye and Molly are gone, permanently. Molly took her own life from what Ox was saying, and he was...murdered. By one of the very people our mother is in charge of. Vosh, we're not the only Ngirrth'luin here aside from Vythica and Ashir. Everyone living above the Lower Levels is like us. Even certain Enforcement units are like us. It's more than just a racial thing, Vosh. This was a mass exodus of our people to here in order to recreate what we once were, and I know you won't stand for that. Neither will I, because the way it's all being done is illogical and unnecessarily cruel. Do you understand?”</p><p>“I...but...Oxye and Molly?” she asked as she looked up at her towering brother with eyes full of tears, the green ring that lined her irises seemingly dulling in color a bit to simulate the blood draining from her face, “But why them...? Ventus, why them? What did they ever do! Why did they have to-...?!”</p><p>Once again the brother found himself holding his other half tightly as she once more found herself sobbing into his torso, gripping angrily and hatefully onto the holster straps of his old mercenary gear he donned. He didn't really know where to go from this point now. Logic said to continue on, try to put an end to it at the source, but what was the true source? Would doing anything to or involving himself with the Head Councilor really change anything? Would Vosh's presence really change anything? All of this began simply because the two of them wanted to retrieve their pup of a sister back, to live happily as a small family in this city. But as it stood, his heart told him to take his sister and pull away from it all, leave this place no matter how far they'd come. But where would they go? As far as he knew from the little he'd explored down on the surface, the old world was uninhabitable. Maybe they could find a way, but that'd only bring more trouble, “Hey, calm down. Look, we're going to find a way to fix all of this, alright?”</p><p>“But how...?”</p><p>“That tower right there isn't anything but a shaft up to the Council Chambers. I'm only assuming that because, well...” he looked and pointed up at the nonexistence of any other actual Levels, “Levels 1 through 5 are honestly all just one Level, with this being the base of it. We need to go up, Vosh. Try and figure it all out.”</p><p>“No...no, Ventus, no! I just want to go home and forget any of this happened, please...!”</p><p>Despite her weak resistance, she couldn't stop her brother from dragging her along with him. What she saw in his eyes before this, however, was something she'd never seen before. A glint of undying persistence. A passion slowly burning and increasing in intensity. Above all of that, pupils more narrow than their people's already natural shape. Perhaps it was he who was now possessed...but as she looked down at her own hand, she saw the blade still gripped onto against her will. Soon she'd lose control again. This was only to allow her to rest, the calm before the true storm. As the elevator doors closed, she caught one last glimpse of the dim lighting at the base of this tower. And then once again...nothing.</p><p>* * *</p><p>There had always been strange things about the creatures of R'lyeh that many failed to truly understand, including those from R'lyeh themselves. Some did not understand that their drive to survive was above what even existed in this world by the most stubborn individual. Others did not comprehend their anatomy, that their appearance of something similar did not necessitate their internal structure being the same as what might have existed prior to their upbringing. But above all else, they did not understand that some feigned death, only to stab their predator's in the back, turning the tables in their own favor. And for Xelki, the tables were about to be turned.</p><p>With her squad ordered to follow Ventus, the lavender patterned Ngirrth'luin took the opportunity to examine the corpse of Hunter, whom she was told about before, but never met until this fateful day, leaving her with no choice but to eliminate both him and his partner, the thresher shark known simply as Sophie Darkfin. The searing, still burning marks and holes left on the mutilated wolf's corpse both pleased and bothered her. The commendations he'd received during his service were something to be acknowledged, and so she gave a bit of a salute. Regretful that he'd chosen to abandon his duties out of fear because a trouble making slicer thought that he'd discovered some 'truth' behind the workings of New R'lyeh.</p><p>She knew this place better than any who dwelled below her peoples' living Levels. The Council and Enforcement were here to keep the Ngirrth'luin from falling to a state of insurgency due to the possibility of falling to the tricks of Ngirrth'lu himself. As it stood, that's exactly what had happened to the Head Councilor's twin children. Born in R'lyeh with her, she would never have thought them to be driven to the edge of insanity due to their Alpha-blood descent. They were supposed to be resistant to it like their mother. Perhaps leaving on their own and not following Vythica inadvertantly caused this. It didn't matter now, though. The gunfire that echoed from outside told her enough as it was, “I suppose now would be a good time to follow up and collect corpse number one, don't you think Hunter?” she mockingly asked the ex-Agent's corpse with a slight kick to his limp leg.</p><p>“...keep your dirty little fucking paws off of my partner...” murmured someone from behind her. With a plethora of scalpels in her hands and her rifle once again slung over her shoulder, the voice once more hissed at Xelki who began to frantically unholster her sidearm, “I don't think so...” And in what felt like a flash of a second, the hand wrapped around the grip of her sidearm found itself impaled into it by a scalpel thrown with such force and precision that it couldn't have been done by anyone other than that damned shark, “You guys really are a bunch of fucking idiots, you know that? Ahah~! I can't wait...” she said as she began to lurk over towards the panicking Ngirrth'luin, “To see...!” she exclaimed as she took a quick step towards Xelki, forcefully grabbing her and pulled any and all weapons off of the female, seemingly ripping and tearing at her padded combat armor in the process, “...what exactly it is about all of you that grabs my interest so. Fucking. Much.”</p><p>She couldn't bring herself to speak. Not only that, but the silence from her comms from her unit told her that they'd not made it, meaning Ventus had eliminated them, despite their advantage in numbers. Her frightful attention was locked on the clearly insane shark now, however. The wound in her chest had clotted up, only bleeding very minimally at this point as it continued to heal in a particular rapid fashion. Her eyes...there was no color but black now, and her mouth dripped a strange black ooze. This shark was the thing of nightmares. Meaning, “Y-You should be dead...I saw one of them impale your chest and throw you down!”</p><p>“Ahaha~! You Ngirrth'luin here don't even know the anatomy of a shark from the same. Fucking. Lost. City. That's right, Xelki~...I too am R'lyehian. And for your little units' lack of knowledge about the location of a R'lyehian shark's heart, they did nothing more than pierce. My. Fucking. Lung~...” she stated with heavy words, taking a deep breath, “It's a pretty painful experience, that I can say. But...how would you know, right~? After all...you're Enforcement. You do the pain dealing. YOU DO THE KILLING, THE WIPING OF EVIDENCE. But that's just me venting at sweet little you~.”</p><p>Xelki began to shiver and attempt to squirm, but the strength exhumed by this nightmare shark was something she'd never had expected, leaving her helpless to the whim of the thresher, “P-please, just let me go. I'll...I'll leave Enforcement. I-I'll help you, something, anything! Just let me go, please!”</p><p>“Oh~, you had your chance to just let us go and perhaps realize that Vythica. Is. Wrong. But no, you're blind to the Truth. After experiencing that pain and thinking about perhaps letting myself die from the bleed out, I realized something, you know. We, as in the R'lyehians, as in people like you and I...we're nothing more than tools in the true machinations that occur. Even Head Councilor Vythica wears nothing more than a title~.”</p><p>“And that title was self-claimed to perpetuate what she thinks is being above and beyond the influence of the Great Ones, Xelki~! We're never truly free of them...” she stated with a dark chuckle, something strange beginning to radiate off of her, “I never thought I'd put my faith in the Great Old Ones either...but when Cthulhu calls, after realizing all of this during my short, feigned death...it is my newly found duty to answer. And what he is telling me is to examine the children of Ngirrth'lu more closely to truly understand what it is that sets you apart from the other R'lyehians, aside from appearance. There's no need for you to worry either. I know what I'm doing, after all~!” Screams and screeches followed suit until nothing but silence existed.</p><p>* * *</p><p>The scent of blood began to pollute the careful environment she'd worked so hard to establish here above the city. This was unacceptable, and unfortunately there was only one way to bring things back to where she demanded they be. As with anything she demanded, the cause was always more gruesome than the effect. With a simple sharp glance over towards one of the remaining Councilors from behind the mask that merely covered the top portion of her skull, they went. This particular Councilor...she did not expect the results she wanted. But how can one keep a loyal crew if one cannot learn to at least give them a chance to prove their loyalty?</p><p>“You,” she began with an authoritative, yet soft tone, “You will eliminate that newly reborn harbinger of Cthulhu. She has no purpose now, not after she decided that her loyalties lied elsewhere. We provided as she needed. Her turncoat ways are not acceptable. Do you understand, dear?” The last question was rhetorical and carried a sort of cold feel to it as the words entered the mind of the lone female Councilor aside from Vythica herself. Without another word or action, she went about her way, augmented, steel-taloned paws scratching and tapping against the cold, metal flooring, approaching what seemed like a steel door.</p><p>With a sharp grip formed by metallic claws, the Councilor pulled open the hatch and climbing out to what was assumed to be the outer wall of the Council Chambers, her augmented digits digging into the moist, humid stone that lined the outside. Within seconds she began to descend down the structure along the walls of the tower, hastily sprinting straight down as her claws dug into the structure to keep her grip until momentum took hold, allowing her to simply use the outer wall as an anchor post for her artificially enhanced limbs as she rapidly scraped and slid her way down to the base of the Upper Levels.</p><p>Meanwhile back in the Council Chambers, Vythica rose from her seat, placing her resting daughter where she once sat to allow her to continue to do so. There was no need for her to examine what was to happen, nor would there be a reason for her to hear it. With what seemed like a simple wave of her robe-hidden hand, the Head Councilor muted all holographic monitors that projected from her table, “I know you three are thinking, and I do not disagree. She will fall to Agent Sophie...” she stated as she began to pace slowly around the table, moving behind one of the Councilors who sat closest to her, “You will live the longest, but only up to the judgment of my daughter. You will be part of my visions.”</p><p>Her pacing continued until she approached the other side of the table, gripping onto the seats of the two remaining Councilors and dragging them closely together, chairs slamming into one another though neither of them flinched a single bit, expressions hidden by those elusive masks. They soon found their shoulders gently gripped onto as Vythica said with little sympathy, “You two will be nothing more than fodder for my children. You will fight, but you will fail.” The two Councilors hid their growling as best they could, knowing that she was right. She was never wrong before, but the amount of rage they felt fueled them to fight on as long as they could when the time came. She reapproached her seat, moving it slowly aside as she returned to watching the holo-images.</p><p>Things were unfolding much more quickly than she had anticipated, however. She expected Vosh to lash out once more due to Nexus, but instead both her and Ventus approached on the main lift up to her Council's chambers. Without another moment wasted she gave command to the two sacrifices, both of whom moved out without question and went to meet the two siblings as they instinctually clung onto the walls and rapidly moved towards the atrium that was constructed before the Council chamber itself. The cart approached the entry way, a hiss unleashing as the doors to the elevator shaft opened up to reveal the twins.</p><p>Within the center of this atrium lied a rather large fountain, shaped similarly to the Great One Ngirrth'lu, though further examination showed that it depicted the beast in a state of rage and pain as it looked as if he'd been struck. From the fountain's mouth leaked a warm, foggy mist, as if to signify the slow release of life from this monstrosity that was once so praised by the Ngirrth'luin, their forefather who brought them into this world now resented because of his corrupt ways. The twins first approached this, and from its image they felt a chill run down their spines.</p><p>“Vosh, this doesn't feel right...” the taller brother commented as he pulled his sidearm out, removing the safety and priming the battery cell, “This place's structure is too open, even with all of the seating. We're exposed and easy targets.”</p><p>“Shut up and keep moving then, before I finally collapse for good,” she responded with a slight flip of her her to get the bangs out of her vision. With Animus gripped in her left hand and a spare sidearm of Ventus' held in her right, she clearly had some grip of herself in this moment, “You're supposed to be the tactician or whatever the hell. Not me. I just know how to use a knife and gun together well.”</p><p>“Which still confuses me...total mood flip and sudden burst of painless energy? You sure you're alright?”</p><p>“I'm perfectly fucking fi- did you hear that?”</p><p>“Yeah, I did...”</p><p>The two regained focus, eyes shifting back and forth as they tried to determine what might be near them in this dimly lit atrium, seemingly layered with a thin yet visible veil of warm fog that rose up to their knees. The sound of metallic limbs scratching into the stone walls echoed throughout the area. Something was here for them, and they were most definitely not friendly, not after all of this.</p><p>It is moments like these that made the twins want to reevaluate their priorities, their choices and most importantly their lives. Time seemed to pause for the moment as they looked to one another with both fear and confidence. The bond they shared was something most would never truly understand, a well kept secret between the two of them. Twins who understood each other, fraternal or identical, always triumphed. As the sound of two whirring blades approaching from the shadows of the dark corners of the area hummed and echoed, the Ngirrth'luin duo quickly rolled away from one another, barely dodging what could have been a quick death, leaving Vosh to mock, “Nice aim, but uh...try harder.”</p><p>Silence took over again until the sounds of metallic claws digging into stone as they maneuvered in the veil of dark echoed around the twins. This continued for more than just a few moments. To some, the sound could have been maddening. Not knowing where to look but knowing that whatever was out for you could be heard. Only they knew where they were, and they liked it this way. The words of a girl meant nothing, but yet they felt coaxed to act once the sound of a shot being charged from the weapon she wielded started up. As she unleashed the heated round in a random direction, things went silent again. Only then would there be the sound of someone else aside from the twins that echoed.</p><p>From above fell an object before the twins, something that only one of them had caught a glimpse of before. After another moment, another was tossed at their feet to meet with the previous. They were the masks that depicted anonymity and emotionless expression. Masks that only a select few donned. Masks of the Councilors whom never removed them from their face. To Vosh this was merely an act of intimidation, as if trying to be baited to fire above and become distracted. She would not fall for such a ploy.</p><p>But for Ventus, it was much more than that. If Councilors never removed their masks before, why would they do so now? Confidence? Fear? Or perhaps they knew this was the last moment they'd ever get to let others see who they were, what they'd become, “Vosh, don't let your guard down,” he stated as he moved to reach and grab the masks off of the ground, examining them much more closely, “...neither of these masks is the same. This one is etched with markings depicting...fear, a life lost. And this one is covered in claw marks, as if this one was forced into whatever it was, Vosh. They couldn't have been willing...”</p><p>“I don't think that really matters right now, Ventus,” she replied with her sidearm raised and pointed in the direction of where a clanking thud echoed, signifying that one of the Councilors had touched ground, still hidden in the dark as a low, almost gargling growl came from the shadows. The same followed suit the opposite direction, causing her brother to drop the masks and raise his weapons in the direction of the noises, “But I think you're right. Something's off, I can feel it.”</p><p>Heavy, metallic footsteps echoed as the two Councilors approaches from either side, making themselves apparent as they came into the dim light, hoods donned, faces still hidden for the most part. Their heads were lowered out of what was assumed respect for whom they were encountering, the children of Head Councilor Vythica. They were told what they were because it was true, and as they began to think about it again they rose their heads, removing their hoods to reveal the decrepit, malformed faces that had become their true selves. Teeth overgrown in disproportional forms, eyes dark and bloodshot with the tone of their liquid life. Neither were and still would never be Alphas, however the signs of small, minor tendrils seemed to grow from the backs of their necks, seemingly evolved from what might have been manes. The dark, murky tones of deep teal and swampy green tinged the rings around their irises.</p><p>Almost as if in unison, the two Councilors removed their robes. The heavy garments fell to the ground with a loud thud, revealing what was hidden beneath them. Claws and feet were adorned with augmented claws and limbs, their legs enhanced by science and nature. These were examples of survived ascendance, but they would never be the same. They had lost their names long ago when Vythica saved them from a doomed future, only to have to take on her children this fateful day.</p><p>To Vosh's surprise they were not simply nude underneath their robes. They were dressed very similarly to how most dressed in the city. Jackets lined with glowing strips of light, heavy multi-pocketed shorts that passed their knees, and just like herself and her twin they seemed to bandage off portions of their body, hiding any markings that may have been made in the past. Either to hide abuse or to hide their past. The closer she looked, however, the more she felt a connection of sorts. Despite their appearances, despite what they might have been now, there was no doubt in her mind that these two were from her generation, “...Ventus, I can't. I...I-I recognize them, but at the same time I don't...”</p><p>The words reached Ventus, but were not convincing enough for him to hold back when the sounds of metallic claws extending out echoed from his opponent's side, causing the Councilor tinged with teal to immediately leap upwards and towards him, hand extended outwards as if to strike down into the skull of Ventus as they rapidly descended down towards him. In that moment, Ventus could read exactly what it is this particular Councilor was thinking. In his eyes he saw fear, sorrow, denial. This Councilor wasn't as well trained as the one he'd seen down on Level 6 before. He could sense the regret of ever engaging with the twins, hence why he'd simply thrown himself at Ventus.</p><p>In an act of mercy, Ventus reacted with two quick shots at the legs of the young Councilor, causing him to fall to the ground before him with a screech of pain, “...she did this to you, and yet you continue to remain loyal to our mother?” Ventus asked as he picked up the Councilor by the throat, showing that it wasn't ascendance only that granted an individual the strength to perform abnormal feats, “You were so fearful of betraying her that you thought it best to blindly follow her? You're shaking, and not from being held like this. You're afraid of us more than you are of her, yet she's the one that caused you all of this pain, this meaningless suffering. You wish she'd left you to suffer and die, the easy way. I don't blame you...”</p><p>From behind Ventus a shot being fired was heard, the other Councilor on his knees with a wound piercing through his cranium as his limp body fell to the side. His sister's breathing was heavy and short. She didn't want to do it, but from how the other Councilor had went, he'd lost all hope, “...Ventus, I could see everything. H-He didn't want to fight. The expression he gave, the look in his eyes, his body language. Ventus, I'm sorry. I-I...I don't...” In that moment, Vosh had turned her sights to the one her brother held. Without another wasted moment she pulled the trigger once more, relieving the suffering of which the other Councilor felt.</p><p>Ventus stood in shock as he still held onto the corpse of the newly deceased Councilor, now nothing more than a physical memory of what was transpiring here in the city. His eyes were wide, and his pupils dilated as he saw the life from this body leave in an instant. This was a mercy killing by his own twin sister who now began to shake and tremble, dropping her sidearm as she stumbled backwards. In her something began to stir once more, however. Her grip on Animus never let up, and with a pained screech she took off once more, this time towards the hallway that possibly led to something much more.</p><p>Ventus almost did not want to chase after his sibling once more, but if any of his assumptions from before were right, Nexus was leading her to their mother whom he needed to encounter in order to possibly put an end to all of this. His hand was still gripped around the neck of the lifeless corpse of his hopeless opponent. With a silent sigh and chant, the Alpha laid the body down on the ground of the atrium. There was no need to give them a proper goodbye. The choices they made to give themselves to a woman that sought for nothing more than to keep secrets and house their supposedly freed people from R'lyeh brought them to this. He'd only wished he knew who they were before he and Vosh had left the lost city. Maybe things could have been different. With a deep breath and exhale, Ventus proceeded to chase after his sister that seemed to screech more and more as she went farther down that hallway, towards their mother, towards the end of all of this.</p><p>As the both of them rapidly approached the entrance to the Council Chambers, the one possessed simply slammed into the metal doors, screeching and yelling before they finally opened and she pounced in aggressively. Ventus followed suit as his heavy boots thudded against the metal flooring before finally finding himself beside Vosh, now lost to the control of Nexus once more. The only thing that seemed to be dimly was the area at which they stood. From the dark, however, they could hear humming, metallic tapping and the gentle breaths of one sleeping, “...Ashir? Ashir, I know your little sleeping habits. Answer me,” Ventus called out into the dark, his guess confirmed as he was relieved to hear the gentle sounds of a young Ngirrth'luin girl stretching as she awoke.</p><p>“What nerve you have to wake up my youngest abruptly from her rest, simply because you want to affirm that they are who you think they are. Congratulations Ventus, my son, my...one true regret,” the words of a familiar, yet much more matured tone contrary to his own twin sister's echoed from the dark that surrounded the two of them, “To my surprise, you've managed to live this long. Even after Sophie's attempt on your life below the city. Even after I sent my right hand after you to find you, even after the traitorous spirit that is Nexus took hold of your sister whom I've yet to hear speak to me now. You are the reason for all of this, Ventus. Things could have been much, much simpler if-”</p><p>“Don't try to turn all of this on me, you manipulative monster. You think I haven't seen all of this? All of what you've done to try and control a population instead of help running it? This isn't R'lyeh! I won't stand for someone like you who wants to recreate what Vosh and I originally ran away from because of how insufferable it actually was,” Ventus stated coldly, weapons already at the ready to fire at where he thought she might be.</p><p>“You...think me the problem, don't you? You've gone mad, my child. How can you not see it?” she asked as holographic monitors began to light up the room from all sides, displaying images of Ventus and his change over the course of time since he and Oxye began to delve into all of this. Images of his health, anatomy, any specific medical information. It was all there, “You've changed for the worse, Ventus. You are no better than those two whom your sister had the actual gall to eliminate them.</p><p>“You think I'm unaware, you think me...corrupt. But in reality, it is you and your newly twisted mind. You were the one vulnerable to Ngirrth'lu's manipulative ways, and look where that has gotten you and your friends. Molly was driven to suicide. Oxye killed by my right hand after he finally gave up after he realized the Truth, that one of us, and at that an Alpha, would be the cause of dissent in this city. Your short-term allies, the Agents. You convinced them that you were right, that everything I was doing was wrong. That I was not there for them.”</p><p>“You have spread nothing but manipulative lies in order to make me seem like the true villain, the cause of this madness. You fail to realize even your minor loyalty to believing in Ngirrth'lu allows him the ability to control, to seize, to turn. You are...an accident. One that I regret not properly raising. One that I wish I had kept like your youngest sister. So with that, I ask you this: give yourself to me or allow your life to be taken by Vosh.”</p><p>His hands trembled at her words. There was such power, such influence behind them that he did not know what was true anymore. He didn't think himself the cause of this all. That his beliefs could have caused all of this, “...the Hunting turn? That's all I ever participated in...”</p><p>The room lit up ever so much as to reveal Vythica who stood directly before the twins. Her expression was neutral as she gave a nod, though the slight trembling in her lower jaw said otherwise, “You are correct, my son. That alone is only ever done in the name of our corrupted forefather, the Great One that gave life to us as a people. But some traditions are not healthy to follow,” she began as she pointed to a lone monitor that examined the action between the ex-Agent Sophie and the Councilor she'd sent after her. Neither had triumphed in that engagement. The injuries suffered by the both of them caused the two to collapse in a pool of blood over the mutilated corpse of what was once Xelki, “Any who find the need to follow and believe in a Great Old One will always be used and sent into a state of madness. 'Ascendance' is nothing more than that, but is easy to fall victim to. You are no excuse, my child.”</p><p>He shook his head, dropping his weapons down to the ground as he held it, “No...no, I don't- I can't believe you. Any of this, none of this is true! I refuse to believe anything you have to say! It....it can't be true. None of it can be tr-” his words were cut off as a sharp pain shot through his body from the off-center of his chest. The searing pain of his innards being cauterized shot through his body, his arms going limp as he turned his head weakly over to his right, only to see the cause of this, “...Vosh? But...but wh-”</p><p>He did not even get to finish talking to his twin sibling one last time as she let the towering male topple over into nothing but lifelessness. A gasp was heard from behind Vythica, followed by a scream and then sobbing. Ashir had experienced the death of her brother by the hands of her own sister, “Ven...! Ven! Mom, Ven! Help! Vosh, Ven!” she screamed, but neither of the two that stood near his corpse reacted, “No, Ven...!” Still no reactions. What had been done had been done.</p><p><em>“Vosh Phantasm, child of Vythica, true child of Ngirrth'lu. Your steps to what you are truly meant to be are nearly complete. Only one thing remains. You are the true child. Your sister...” </em>the words of a familiar presence echoed through the room from the hosting body that was Animus. However familiar the presence was, there was no doubt that it had changed in tone, in sound, in emotion. In that short moment, Vosh had gained control of herself once more to finally throw the weapon away from herself at the ground, the sound of the heated blades melting into the metal floor hissing. The room began to darken once more, bringing her back to the familiar void, though something was different this time as she saw the image of Ashir laying on the ground helpless before her.</p><p>Was this some kind of mind game? Another trick to get Vosh to hold Animus once more? These questions were pushed aside when the sudden shape of a decrepit, humanoid wolf's presence made itself apparent over the body of Ashir, wings expanded as if to display its dominance in such a situation, <em>“You are the true daughter of Vythica. She has no need for three. You will continue the traditions I have bestowed upon you all. You are of my blood, not just your mother's! Do as I direct!” </em>he exclaimed in the tongue of her people, something she still understood but could not fluently speak anymore, <em>“Do not ignore my influence! You are my children, and I will not tolerate this any more! Fear that which gave you life for it can end it faster than you may believe! Obey me, child!”</em></p><p>It began to drive her to the edge of insanity, his presence, his voice, everything about him. His appearance, his demands, his words! She finally understood now. It was never Nexus controlling this all. It was he, the one whom she thought she'd rid herself of. Ventus was not the one being driven mad, no one ever was. It was her all along! She was the cause, all because of the blade she swore she would never touch again! This was not a reality! This was a nightmare instilled by Ngirrth'lu! It had to be!</p><p>Soon she found the blade in her hand once more. Every step she took forward could not be stopped. She could not step back to where she was previously. Only move forward towards both the forefather of her people and her helpless sister that continued to cry. Her screams and sobbing were as maddening as Ngirrth'lu's mere presence, but she knew that he could not physically bring himself to appear, for if he could he could manipulate in ways that even she could not bring herself to quite understand. It became colder the closer she approached until it seemed like everything had frozen, Ngirrth'lu standing before her at eye level as if to examine every step she were to take from this moment on, <em>“Obey me, child! Eliminate this girl and truly become Ngirrth'luin!”</em></p><p>“You're a fucking disgusting piece of shit!” she exclaimed as she plummeted her blade downwards, only to gain the will to redirect her swing and penetrate the thing into the upper half of the Great One's image, causing him to begin to fade away until nothing was left but her in this dark void, her sister gone as well. In that moment, a wave of calm and peace washed over her. Had some kind of burden been lifted off of her shoulders? All she could hear now were the faint words of an older female echo through the area. Maybe...maybe her brother was right from the beginning. Perhaps this was all just a bad dream, a nightmare. It didn't matter now, though. He was gone, and now her mind was gone with him.</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Epilogue: To Become the Solution</h2></a>
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  <em><b>Epilogue</b> </em>
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  <em> It was never meant to become such a large success, the migration of the Ngirrth'luin from R'lyeh to this city we've claimed as our own. Through dominance, leadership and innovation. New R'lyeh...perhaps one day she'll see it. See what I had done in order to save not only her people, but her siblings and herself. The blood of the Great One runs through me, through all of my children, born of R'lyeh and of my own flesh...but that doesn't dictate what I led us all to accomplish. This city, still unnamed yet developed so methodically, could have lived on without us. Some would even argue that we were a blight on its development. But the truth remains: New R'lyeh is not only a sanctuary for any and all Ngirrth'luin, but any R'lyehian who has managed to escape the dark, murky depths of our home. </em>
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  <em> The Great Ones, despite our admiration, do not care whether or not we live or parish. For us to leave was nothing more than a bump in the metaphorical road. For me to lead, however...I was both honored and confused. Many considered me Death incarnate, a vorpal blade that pierced both the hearts and minds of whomever she came across and declared unworthy to live. Those days, however, have long passed. I am no longer 'The Vorpal'. Simply Vythica, the first of the Phantasm lineage and none too soon to become the last. Ventus has displayed his prowess more than any other Alpha male, despite the treatment I requested of him when he and his twin sister inhabited the Brood Tower, a most regretful decision I made out of fear of being unable to properly raise my own two pups.</em>
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  <em> As for Ashir, she has shown exceptional development despite not being raised in the Brood Tower like her older siblings. I love her dearly, and it is why she has never left my side, a most loyal child. I would even argue that she kept me from going mad, allowed me to reach this state of being. A Ngirrth'luin does not simply transcend past the stage of ascension. Perhaps that's why I was chosen. I will admit, however, that it has left me somewhat...damaged. I was left blind in my left eye, scarred along the sides of my face. The mental battle I participated in to keep myself from becoming a monstrosity took its toll. I had even filed my claws down to prevent myself from hurting myself. The process of ascension is something even I will never truly understand. I will also never truly understand Ngirrth'lu, why he fought to keep me linked to him that night, taking my left eye's vision as punishment...but I am free. My children are proof, as are my achievements. </em>
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  <em> Despite popular belief, my youngest is not the first Ashborn. Far from it. It is merely a facade. A cover up for the two true first Ashborn. Her siblings are not the product of me and another female. I was quite shy during that stage in life, and it took the touch and caress of a male to show me that I had nothing to fear, that love and emotions were nothing more than a life stage that I could over come. I miss him whenever he goes about his business, pretending to lead some group of disheartened, unconvinced Ngirrth'luin in order to convince them to stay. To believe in me. It's strange how life passes between this realm and R'lyeh. The day the maddened Cthulhu passed through was the day my generation was born. Time is a strange thing...</em>
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  <em> ...I only wish time was less harsh on us here than it was there. How I wish you'd wake up already, Vosh...conquer your nightmare, come to me. I would not think you could possibly experience something so horrible, so mentally disturbing that it could keep you from waking up for 9 years. I've bathed you, found ways to feed you, care for you, yet I can't even help you get through this. I even made sure that you were given Animus, blessed with the defiant daughter of Ngirrth'lu's spirit Nexus. She did show signs that she would deal with something difficult...but never did I think she'd be in a coma for 9 years trying to fight it. Whatever it may be, I only hope she overcomes it soon. There's so much she's missed out on. It's heartbreaking to see both Ventus and Ashir sleep next to her each night. I'm not entirely sure if it's the looks her and I share, or perhaps something more. Sibling bonds were never something I thought I'd ever see for I'd never experienced them myself.</em>
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  <em> Perhaps when Alixandr returns we can try to delve into this some more. It's our anniversary today, and I was sure to let him know that all I wanted was to finally wake my daughter up...a twitch. That's the first involuntary movement I've seen in years. Perhaps today truly is the day. There's much to prepare for. I'll need to have her siblings go out. I want them to be pleasantly surprised if this truly is the day of her awakening. No longer will she be 'The Unawakened'. She will finally be Vosh Phantasm.</em>
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